The ubiquity of order domains for the construction of error control codes (Q874425)

Order domains are a class of commutative rings introduced by \textit{T. Høholdt, J. van Lint} and \textit{R. Pellikaan} [in: Handbook of Coding Theory, 1, 871--961 (1998; Zbl 0922.94015)] to simplify the theory of error control codes using ideas from algebraic geometry. The definition is largely motivated by the structures utilized in the Berlekamp-Massey-Sakata (BMS) decoding algorithm, with Feng-Rao majority voting for unknown syndromes, applied to one-point geometric Goppa codes constructed from curves. However, order domains are much more general, and \textit{M. E. O'Sullivan} [Finite Fields Appl. 7, No. 2, 293--317 (2001; Zbl 1027.94032)] has shown that the BMS algorithm can be used to decode codes constructed from order domains by a suitable generalization of Goppa's construction for curves. In this article we will first discuss the connection between order domains and valuations on function fields over a finite field. Under some mild conditions, we will see that a general projective variety over a finite field has projective models which can be used to construct order domains and Goppa-type codes for which the BMS algorithm is applicable. We will then give a slightly different interpretation of \textit{O. Geil} and \textit{R. Pellikaan}'s extrinsic characterization of order domains via the theory of Gröbner bases [Finite Fields Appl. 8, No. 3, 369--396 (2002; Zbl 1008.13007)], and show that their results are related to the existence of toric deformations of varieties. To illustrate the potential usefulness of these observations, we present a series of new explicit examples of order domains associated to varieties with many rational points over finite fields: Hermitian hypersurfaces, Deligne-Lusztig varieties, Grassmannians, and flag varieties.