On the \(l\)-extendability of quaternary linear codes (Q492004)

An \([n,k,d]\) code over the finite field of order \(q\), \(\mathbb{F}_q\), is a \(k\)-dimensional subspace of \(\mathbb{F}_q^n\) with minimum Hamming distance \(d\). An \([n,k,d]\) code is said to be \(l\)-extendable if it can be extended to an \([n+l,k,d+l]\) code. If \(A_i\) is the number of vectors of Hamming weight \(i\) in \(C\) then the diversity is the pair \((\Phi_0,\Phi_1)\) defined by \[ \Phi_0 = {{1}\over{q-1}} \sum_{q|i,i>0} A_i \] and \[ \Phi_1 = {{1}\over{q-1}} \sum_{i \not \equiv 0, d \pmod{q}} A_i. \] Using the geometry of \(\mathrm{PG}(k-1,4)\), specifically the odd sets, the authors prove several results about the \(l\)-extendibility of codes over the finite field of order 4 which involve the diversity of the code.