Linear complete symmetric rank-distance codes (Q6859568)

Let \(M_{n\times m}({\mathbb F}_q)\) denote the set of \(n\times m\) matrices over \(\mathbb{F}_q,\) a rank-distance code \(C\) is \(C\subseteq M_{n\times m}({\mathbb F}_q)\) with the rank-distance metric \(d(A, B) = \text{rank}(A-B).\) An \(\mathbb{F}_q\)-linear code of minimum distance \(d\) is called complete if it is not contained in a larger \(\mathbb{F}_q\)-linear code of minimum distance \(d.\)\N\NThis work studies the \({\mathbb F}_q\)-linear complete symmetric rank-distance (CSRD) codes in \(M_{3\times 3}({\mathbb F}_q)\) of minimum distance \(d.\) The authors consider the codes as subspaces of \(\mathrm{PG}(5, q)\) which intersect the \((d-1)\)-st secant variety of the Veronese variety \({\mathcal V}_3^{(d-1)}(\mathbb{F}_q)\) trivially and which are maximal with respect to this property. While every MSRD code is complete, the authors prove that the converse does not necessarily hold for \(q\) even.\N\NUsing geometric techniques based on the correspondence between these codes and linear systems of conics in \(\mathrm{PG}(2, q),\) a classification of \(\mathbb{F}_q\)-linear CSRD codes in \(M_{3\times 3}(\mathbb{F}_q)\) with \(d = 2,\) and \(d=3\) is shown. These results mainly contribute towards the classification of nets of conics in \(\mathrm{PG}(2, q)\). The 15 \(K-\)orbits of lines and solids in \(\mathrm{PG}(5, q)\) used in the proves are tabulated as an appendix.