Group homomorphisms as error correcting codes (Q490299)

Summary: We investigate the minimum distance of the error correcting code formed by the~homomorphisms between two finite groups \(G\) and \(H\).~We prove some general structural~results on how the distance behaves with respect to natural group operations,~such as passing to subgroups and quotients, and taking products.~Our main result is a general formula for the distance when \(G\) is~solvable or \(H\) is nilpotent, in terms of the normal subgroup~structure of \(G\) as well as the prime divisors of \(|G|\) and \(|H|\).~In particular, we show that in the above case, the distance is~independent of the subgroup structure of \(H\).~We complement this by showing that, in general, the distance depends on the~subgroup structure of \(H\).