Codes from infinitely near points (Q431570)

One type of algebraic geometry codes are codes that are obtained by evaluating functions on an algebraic variety in a rational points lying on this variety. The well-known RS-codes can be viewed in this way, with the algebraic variety being the projective line. Goppa generalized these codes by replacing the line by algebraic curves. In this article, the authors use the notion of infinitely near points to increase the set of rational points in which functions can be evaluated. This evaluation is not done in the straightforward way, giving rise to nonlinear codes. The main example in the article focuses on the two-dimensional affine space. For this variety several calculations and examples are given.