On the error-correcting pair for MDS linear codes with even minimum distance (Q6156924)

For a prime power \(q\), a \( [n, k, d]_q\) code \(\mathcal{C}\) is called a Maximal Distance Separable (MDS) code when \(d=n-k + 1.\) Reed-Solomon codes are a class of most important MDS codes and they can be generalized as Generalized RS (GRS) codes. An error-correcting pair is a general algebraic decoding method for linear codes, which exists for many classical linear codes. In [\textit{R. Pellikaan}, J. Stat. Plann. Inference 51, No. 2, 229--242 (1996; Zbl 0852.94025)] it was shown that for every linear \([n, k, d]_q\) code \(\mathcal{C},\) there exists an MDS linear code \(\mathcal{C}^\prime = [n, n-d + 1, d]_{q^m}\) with \(\mathcal{C}\subseteq \mathcal{C}^\prime\) and a necessary and sufficient condition for that an MDS linear code \(\mathcal{C}\) with odd minimum distance has an error-correcting pair \((\mathcal{A}, \mathcal{B})\) were given. The authors are considering three cases: \begin{itemize} \item \([n, \ell+ 2, n -\ell-1]\); \item \([n, \ell+1, n -\ell];\) \item \([n, \ell+ 1, n-\ell-1].\) \end{itemize} In the case of an \([n, \ell+2, n -\ell-1]\) code, a necessary condition for that an MDS linear code \(\mathcal C\) with minimum distance \(2\ell+2\) has an \(\ell\)-error-correcting pair. For the other two cases counterexamples that \(\mathcal C\) is a non-GRS code are given.