Quasi-twisted codes as invariant subspaces (Q7006765)

Define the twistulant matrix as \N\[ \NS= \begin{pmatrix} c_0 & c_1 & c_2 & \cdots & c_{m-1} \\\N\lambda c_{m-1} & c_0 & c_1 & \cdots & c_{m-2}\\\N\lambda c_{m-2} & \lambda c_{m-1} & c_0 & \cdots & c_{m-3} \\\N\vdots & \vdots & \vdots & & \vdots \\\N\lambda c_1 & \lambda c_2 & \lambda c_3 & \cdots & c_0 \\\N\end{pmatrix}.\N\] \NA 1-generator quasi-twisted code has a generator matrix \([G_1\ G_2 \ \cdots \ G_l]_{m\times n},\) where \(G_k, k = 1, 2,\dots, l\), are twistulant matrices.\N\NThe authors introduce a linear transformation \(\mathcal{A} \in \Hom (\mathbb{F}_{q}^{n})\), defined as \(\mathcal{A}: \mathbb{F}_{q}^{n} \longrightarrow \mathbb{F}_{q}^{n}\), \N\[ \N\boldsymbol{c}\longrightarrow (\lambda c_{m-1,0}, \dots, \lambda c_{m-1, l-1}, c_{0,0}, \dots, c_{0, l-1}, \dots, c_{m-2,0}, \dots, c_{m-2, l-1})\N\] \Nwhere \N\[ \N\boldsymbol{c}=(c_{0,0}, \ldots, c_{0, l-1}, c_{1,0}, \ldots, c_{1, l-1}, \ldots, c_{m-1,0}, \ldots, c_{m-1, l-1}).\N\] \NThis transformation helps to derive the characteristic polynomial \(f(x)\). The decomposition of \(f(x)\) into the product of irreducible polynomials and the application of the Cayley-Hamilton theorem, concepts of invariant subspaces, and minimal invariant subspaces are established.\N\NThe main goal of this paper is to determine a lower bound for the minimum distance of the 1-generator quasi-twisted codes. In some cases, it surpasses the BCH-type bound for 1-generator quasi-twisted codes. Quasi-twisted codes have been viewed as invariant subspaces under this transformation. Additionally, the generator polynomial, check polynomial, and idempotent of quasi-twisted codes have been studied. As a subclass of quasi-twisted codes, the BCH-type bound for 1-generator quasi-twisted codes has been derived from the BCH bound of constacyclic codes. Ample examples illustrate that the new bound can exceed the BCH-type bound in certain cases.