The conorm code of an AG-code (Q6112265)

This paper introduces the concept of the conorm code associated to an AG-code, a new type of code that is obtained by ``lifting'' the AG-code to a larger field. The paper proves various properties of conorm codes, some of which are described below. Let \(q\) be a fixed prime power, let \(\mathrm{GF}(q)\) denote the finite field with \(q\) elements, and let \(F/GH(q)(x)\) denote an algebraic function field over \(\mathrm{GF}(q)\). Let \(D\in \operatorname{Div}(F)\) denote a \(\mathrm{GF}(q)\)-rational divisor of \(F\) and let \[ L(D) = \{ f \in F^\times\ |\ \operatorname{div}( f ) + D \geq 0\} \] denote the associated Riemann-Roch space associated to \(D\). Given disjoint rational divisors \(E=P_1+\dots+P_n\) (where the \(P_i\) are places in \(F\)) and \(D\) on \(F\), define the associated AG-code by \[ C^F(E,D) = \{(f(P_1),\dots,f(P_n))\ |\ f\in L(D)\} \subset \mathrm{GF}(q)^n. \] Important to the study and applications of such codes are the parameters \(n, k, d\), where \(n\) denotes the length, \(k\) denotes the dimension over \(\mathrm{GF}(q)\), and \(d\) denotes the minimum distance. The well-known bounds on \(d\) and \(k\) in terms of geometric data are recalled by the authors in their paper. Fix an integer \(t\geq 1\), a function field \(F'/\mathrm{GF}(q^t)\), and assume \(F'/F\) is a finite extension of function fields of degree \(m\). If \(P\) is a place in \(F\) the \textit{conorm} divisor of \(P\) (with respect to \(F'/F\)) is \[ \mathrm{Con}_{F'/F}(p) = \sum_{P'|P} e(P'|P)P' \in \mathrm{Div}(F'), \] where \(e(P'|P)\) denote the ramification index of \(P'\) over \(P\). More generally, if \(A=\sum_P n_P P\in \mathrm{Div}(F)\) then the conorm divisor of \(A\) is \[ \mathrm{Con}_{F'/F}(A) = \sum_P n_P\mathrm{Con}_{F'/F} (P). \] For any \(P\in \mathrm{Supp}(E)\), let \(m_P\in \{1,\dots,m\}\) denote the number of different places \(P'\) of \(F'\) over \(P\). Now we can define the conorm code. Let \(C=C^F(E,D)\) be the AG-code as above. The conorm code associated to \(C\) is \[ C'=\mathrm{Con}_{F'/F}(C)= C^{F'}(E', D'), \] where \[ E'=\frac{1}{m}\sum_{i=1}^n m_{P_i}\mathrm{Con}_{F'/F}(P_i),\quad D'=\mathrm{Con}_{F'/F}(D). \] The first goal of the paper is to obtain estimates on the parameters of \(C'\) in terms of geometric data. Such estimates are obtained in the author's Corollary 1, Corollary 2, and Proposition 2, illustrated by several examples. For example, if \([n,k,d]\) denote the parameters of \(C\) and \([n',k',d']\) denote the parameters of \(C'\) then, under fairly general conditions, the authors prove \(n \leq n' \leq mn\) and \(d' \geq n' - \frac{m}{t}\deg(D)\). In Theorem 4.1, the authors show that the dual code of the conorm code is the conorm code of the dual. Section 5 studies the special case when the AG-code is cyclic. For instance, Theorem 5.5 gives conditions under which the code is cyclic if and only if the conorm of the code is cyclic. Section 6 examines classically known codes that turn out to be conorm codes. These include, repitition codes and Reed-Solomon codes. A final section discusses possible generalizations, as well as possible applications to cryptograpy. For further details, the reader is referred to the well-written paper itself.