Cyclotomic numbers and primitive idempotents in the ring \(\mathrm{GF}(q)[x]/(x^{p^n} - 1)\) (Q2566960)

This paper generalizes the result of Berman by taking \(q\) to be an odd prime power, not necessarily a primitive root and \(p^n\), where \(p\) is an odd prime. The paper begins by obtaining all the cyclotomic cosets modulo \(p^n\). Then cyclotomic numbers and periods are defined. It is proved that the periods are eigenvalues of a special matrix occurring in a specific order. It further discusses the dimension, generating polynomials and minimum distances of minimal cyclic codes of length \(p^n\). The authors also give examples of all the ternary minimal cyclic codes of length 23 (for \(e= 2\)), and all the ternary and 5-ary minimal cyclic codes of length 14 (for \(e=4\) and \(3\), respectively).