On optimal non-projective ternary linear codes (Q2470453)

A linear code \(C\) with a generator matrix \(G\) is called projective if any two columns of \(G\) are independent, equivalently, if the dual code of \(C\) has minimum distance \(> 2\). In this paper attention is focussed on finding optimal ternary linear codes of dimension 6 with minimum distance \(d> 243\), being necessarily non-projective. Four theorems are proved, being of a numerical flavour, among them: there exists a \([406,6,270]_3\)-code; there exist no \([g_3(6,d),6,d]_3\)-code for \(d= 304,310,313,347\), where \(g_3(6,d)\) is the so-called Griesmer bound \(\sum^5_{i=0} \lceil{d\over 3^i}\rceil\). The paper uses results on flats of the theory of projective geometry, on punctured and extended codes, and on so-called diversities in the sense of \textit{R. Hill} [Des. Codes Cryptography 17, No. 1--3, 151--157 (1999; Zbl 0957.94030)] and \textit{R. Hill} and \textit{P. Lizak} [The non-existence of \([32,5,22]\)-codes over \(GF(4)\), Optimal codes and related topics, Panorama. 90--95 (1995; Zbl 0908.94028)].