The binary extremal self-dual codes of lengths 38 and 40 (Q664396)

Let \({ \mathbb{F}}_{2}\) be the binary field, and \(C\) an \([n,k]\)-linear code (a \(k\)-dimensional subspace of \({ \mathbb{F}}_{2}^{n}\)). The Hamming weight of a vector in \({ \mathbb F}_{2}^{n}\) is the number of its nonzero coordinates. The minimum weight \(d\) of a code \(C\) is the smallest weight of its nonzero codewords, and \(C\) is called an \([n,k,d]\)-code. If \(u=(u_{1},u_{2}, \ldots ,u_{n})\) and \(v=(v_{1},v_{2}, \ldots ,v_{n})\) are two vectors from \({ \mathbb{F}}_{2}^{n}\) then their Euclidean inner product in \({ \mathbb{F}}_{2}^{n}\) is \(u \cdot v = u_{1} \cdot v_{1}+u_{2} \cdot v_{2}+ \cdots + u_{n} \cdot v_{n}\). The dual code of \(C\) is \[ {C^{ \perp}}= \{u \in {\mathbb{F}}_{2}^{n} \mid u \cdot v=0 \text{ for all } v \in C \}, \] and \(C^{ \perp}\) is a linear \([n,n-k]\)-code. If \(C \subset C^{ \perp}\), then \(C\) is called self-orthogonal, and if \(C=C^{ \perp}\), then \(C\) is called self-dual. The self-dual codes meeting the bound given in [\textit{E. M. Rains}, ``Shadow bounds for self-dual codes'', IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory 44, No. 1, 134--139 (1998; Zbl 1053.94582)] are called extremal, and the self-dual codes with the largest minimum weight for a given length are called optimal. Two binary codes are equivalent if one can be obtained from the other by a permutation of coordinates. The permutation \( \sigma \in S_{n}\) is an automorphism of \(C\) if \(C= \sigma(C)\). The set of all automorphisms of \(C\) forms the automorphism group \(\Aut(C)\) of \(C\). The author classifies the extremal self-dual codes of lengths \(38\) and \(40\) having an automorphism of order \(3\) with \(6\) independent \(3\)-cycles, \(10\) independent \(3\)-cycles, or \(12\) independent \(3\)-cycles. In this way the author completes the classification of binary extremal self-dual codes of length up to \(48\) having automorphisms of odd prime order.