1. Preliminaries
One of the main objective of algebraic coding theory is to classify codes up to equivalence by using a list of invariants. The present work is following this way. We study here a class of linear binary codes whose all codewords have distinct weight and will give a classification theorems. Throughout this work all codes are
linear binary codes. We call an
-binary code every
dimensional subspace
of
. Recall also that
the Hamming weight
of vector
is defined to be the number of nonzero components of
. The mi- nimum of weights where
is the minimal distance
of the code.
A Hamming isometry of
is a linear application
such that
, for every
. It is well known that in binary case, the isometries are merely the permutations of the coordinates, that is the elements of
, the permutation group of
.
Two codes
and
are said to be equivalent if there exists an isometry
of
such that
. An automorphism of
is a Hamming isometry
such that
. The automorphisms of
form a subgroup of
called the automorphism group of
and we denote it by
. Note also that the vector
space
can be endowed with a product
, so that
becomes
a Boolean ring. Furthermore,
, for every
. The code
is said
a constant-weight code (CW-code) if all nonzero codewords have the same weight. The dual of binary
Hamming codes
are simplex codes
of parameters
. simplex codes
are constant
weight code (CW-code).
Any permutation of the columns of a k by n binary matrix
which maps the rows of
into rows of the same matrix, is called an automorphism of the binary matrix
[1] . The set of all automorphisms of
is a subgroup of the symmetric group
and we denote it by
. More treatment of linear codes can be found in the book [2] .
Ideally, we would like the rate
to be high, in order to be able to send a large number of errors. The
rate of a DW-code approch zero very quickly when the code length increase:
as shown
in Figure 1 where
and
, so
.
It is more convenient to use the DW-codes in the construction of other codes by using some technic of construction and not to use it alone.
2. Distinct weight codes
Definition 1 A linear binary code
of length
is said to be a Distinct Weight Code, (in short: DW-code), if
the weight mapping:
, is one to one, that is
whenever
,
.
The simplest example of such codes are the repetition codes. Later we shall give more nontrivial examples. Let
a DW-code of length
and dimension
. Since the number of element of
is
, then we have
. In the sequel we fix our interest to the extreme case
, in which we give a construction.
Proposition 2 Let
such that
. Then every family
of words such that
is linearly independent.
Proof. Suppose on the contrary that
are not linearly independent, then we have a linear combi-
nation
, where some
is nonzero. Let
be the maximal integer such that
. Then
, and
. Now taking the weights leads to:
a contradiction.
Now we give a construction of a
DW-code.
Let
be a nonzero integer and
. Take
the canonical basis of
. Put
,
then clearly
. By the proposition 2, the code-words
are linearly independent and
generate a
linear code that we denotes by
. It also seen that
, whenever
. This
implies that
.
A generator matrix of
looks like:
Proposition 3 The
-code
is a DW-code.
Proof. Since the cardinal of
is
, it suffices to show that wt:
is onto.
Let
, then
can be written
in the base 2, where
. Set
,
then
.![]()
Up an equivalence we have the following result:
Theorem 4 There exists only one distinct weight
-code, moreover such code is Boolean subring of
.
Proof. Let
be such a code and take code-words
, each
has weight
. These are linearly independent and form a basis of
. Next we show that
,
. Otherwise, there exists a
least integer
such that
for some
. Since
, one have
.
Multiplying by
yields
. Now consider the word
,
On the other hand, if we
consider
, then
. Thus
hence
a contradition. This means that
, if
. Since
, and
is a
basis of
, then
is a Boolean ring.
Now we define a linear mapping
by
. Then,
. If
, then
. This implies that
is an isometry between
and
, and by the extension theorem of MacWilliams, see [3] or [4] , there
exists a permutation
, such that
.![]()
Example 5
and
By using the software Q-extension, see [5] we show, up to equivallence, that among six equivallence classes
the unique DW-code
of parametters
is the code of generator matrix
. It is clear
that it is equivallent to the code
of generator matrix
. Just swap the second and third
rows and then apply the permutation
.
Theorem 6 Let
, Diophantine equations
for which
![]()
![]()
,
,
,
have a unique solution which is the k-uplet
.
Proof.
is clearly a solution of the Diophantine equation which satisfies the conditions
(1). Assume that
for some
and
, then
where
and
. We can assume without loss of generality that
. So by the uniqueness of Development of any integer less than or equal
in binary basis, the equality
leads to a contradiction. So the solution
satisfies the conditions (2).
Conversely, Let
a solution of the equation
satisfying (1)-(2). We can
take
,
elements of
such that
and
,
,
,
,
,
are linearly independent. The
condition (2) means that the code of generator matrix
is a dw-code. On after Theorem 1.3, the
condition (1) implies that there exists an invertible
by
matrix
and a permutation matrix
such that
where
and
is the generator matrix of the code
. It is clear that
is of the form:
where
or 1,
and
we have
. So we have
, and then we have
,
by the
uniqueness of development of
in binary basis. By (1) we have
, then we have:
, ![]()
Kronecker symbol
.
Since
, we have
,
and finally we have
![]()
.
Remark 7 Without the conditions (1) and (2), Diophantine equations have
different solutions. For all
note that there is no DW-self-dual code. Indeed, if not, we will have
, wich is impossible.
3. classification and automorphism group of DW-Codes
3.1. Automorphism Group: thegeneral case
We consider, without loss of generality, that a generator matrix of a DW-code has no zero columns. Indeed, if this is the case, the zero columns are omitted and we consider the obtained DW-code. This assumption is made in the entier paper. We study the automorphism group of DW-codes. We first notice the following:
Proposition 8 Let
any basis of an
DW-code. Then
.
Moreover, if
any generator matrix of
, then
is an automorphism of
, if and only if,
is an automorphism of the binary matrix
.
Proof. Clear.
Proposition 9 The automorphism group of any DW-code is nontrivial of even order.
Proof. Let
be a generator matrix of a DW
-code
. We may suppose that all columns of
are
nonzero. The
columns of
are taken among a set of
columns. Suppose that all columns of
are distincts, since
, then the columns of
are the
distinct nonzero vectors of
and
will be the simplex code, which is clearly not DW. This contradiction shows that at least 2 columns of
are identical. Now the transposition of these two columns gives an automorphism of
.
We deduce that the dual code
of a DW-code has a non-trivial automorphism group and has minimum distance
.
We consider the general case
. The action of automorphism group
on the set
of columns of a generator matrix
defined by:
for all
in
and
in
, splits all the columns of
into disjoint orbits. The orbits
each formed of a single
column, they are the columns fixed by the group
. We set
if no orbit is formed of a single
column and then it is clear that
since since
can not be trivial. The
other orbits
are
,
,
. We set
,
if
and
,
, therefore, we have precisely
.
Up to equivalence, we can consider that the code $mathcal
$ is of generator matrix
rows of
, such that
.
Since
is a DW-code, then for each
for each
we have
. So
we have
. We therefore deduce that:
,
. So each orbit
consists of
equal columns.
The following theorem legitimate the idea of giving a definition to the 3-tuple
which we call signature of the DW-code and we denote
.
We give here the full classification of such a code in several cases.
Theorem 10 If two DW-codes
and
are equivalent then they have the same signatures:
.
Proof. Let
and
two equivalent DW-codes of parameters
. So
such as
.
We have
. Let
be a generator matrix of the code
. Under the action of the
automorphism group
we can assume that
is of the form
where
![]()
![]()
,
and
.
So we have
and then
which is an orbit of the column
under the action of
on
the generator matrix
of the code
. similarly we have
which is an orbit of the column
under the action of
on the generator matrix
. Thus
and
have the same number of ponctual orbits, the same number of non-ponctual orbits and the two orbits
and
on the one hand and
and
on the other hand have the same number of columns. we
conclude that the two codes
and
have the same Signature.
3.2. Classification
3.2.1. Case 1:
and
We have
Theorem 11 If
is an
DW-code without punctual orbits
and if the number of non
punctual orbits is equal to the dimension of the DW-code
then the code
is equivallent to a DW-
code of generator matrix
whith
and t1 = d is the minimal distance of
.
Proof. After a series of permutations and elementary operations on rows of
we can make the first line of
the first orbit formed only by ones and all other rows are null
all other bits of the first row of the
generator matrix are zero. Otherwise the first line of another orbit
will be formed only by 1 s. And a series
of permutations and elementary row operations can make null all the other rows of this orbit so
.
This is a contradiction since two orbits are disjoint. We obtain a generator matrix of an equivalent code denoted
by the same sign
. It is easy to see that
is a generator matrix of a DW-code
without punctual orbits
and the number of orbits is equal to the dimension of this DW-code
and This allows for reasoning by induction. We obtain a generator matrix of an equivalent code
.
It is clear that we have
,
,
,
and
, ![]()
since
implies the existence of a punctual orbit
.
Remark 12 In this case, up to equivallence, each
DW-code admits the system
as
orthogonal basis:
,
,
,
such as
,
,
,
and
.
Example 13 Consider the
DW-code of generator matrix
. It is equivallente to the code of generator matrix
,
,
,
,
Corollary 14 Let two
DW-codes
and
without punctual orbits and the number of their orbits
is equal to their dimension. Then the codes
and
are equivallent if and only if
.
The converse of Theorem 11 is true under an additional condition.
Theorem 15 Let
an
code of generator matrix
as in the last remark
. If:
![]()
,
,
we have
then
is a DW-code of minimum distance
for which
and
.
Proof. Clear.
Corollary 16 The number of equivalence classes of
DW-codes such as
,
and
equals the number of solutions
of the Diophantine equations
satisfying the following conditions



,
,
,
.
Proof. Let the application that maps each equivalence class represented by the matrix
to the
t-tuple
solution of the Diophantine equation as described in Theorem 11. This application is
clearly a bijection between the set of equivalence classes and the set of solutions of the Diophantine equation satisfying conditions (1) and (2).![]()
3.2.2. Case 2:
and
Theorem 17 If
is an
DW-code with
punctual orbits
and if the number of non
punctual orbits is equal to the dimension of the DW-code
then the code
is equivallent to the
DW-code of generator matrix
with
and
.
Example 18 Consider the
DW-code
of generator matrix
. It is equivallente to the code
of generator matrix
,
,
,
,
We have
since
and
are equivallente.
The converse of this theorem is true under an additional condition. Let
an
of generator matrix
with:
and
.
are f different
columns which are also different from all unitary columns
,
,
,
.
For each
, denote by
the weight of the sum of all the jth rows where
of the
matrix
For all
denote by
the weight of the ith row of the
matrix
. So by
setting the numbers
we have the following result, let
an
code of generator matrix
as described in theorem 17 we have:
Theorem 19 If for all
, for all
and for all
,
we have
then the code
is a DW-code.
Let
an
DW-code such as
,
and
. We have
different way to the choice of
fixed columns. For each value of
and for the
-th choice of
fixed
columns we denote by
,
the number of solutions of the Diophantine equations
which satisfy the following conditions


![]()
,
,
,
So we have the following result.
Theorem 20
The number of equivalence classes of
DW-codes with
and a given
such that
and
equals the number
.
The number of equivalence classes of
DW-codes with
,
and
equals
the number
.![]()
Example 21 By using the result of the last theorem and the Q-extension software, We show that there exist
Only 4
DW-code up to equvallence verifying
. Indeed
and we have:
・ For
the set of possible columns taken in the following order are:
,
So the number of DW-codes with
,
and
is
.
・ For
the set of possible columns taken in the following order are:
So there is no DW-codes with
,
and
since
.
・ For
the set of possible columns taken in the following order are:
So there is no DW-codes avec
,
and
since
.
・ For
the set of possible columns taken in the following order are:
,
,
,
.
So there is one DW-codes such as
,
and
since
.
We deduce that there is only four
DW-codes, among 98 equivalence classes, satisfying
since
3.2.3. Case 3:
and
We have necessarily
.
Theorem 22 If
is an
DW-code without punctual orbits
and if the number of non punc-
tual orbits is different from the dimension of the DW-code
then
and the code
is equivallent to the DW-code of generator matrix
with
.![]()
Example 23 The
DW-code of generator matrix
is equivallent to the code
of generator matrix![]()
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
In this case two DW-codes with the same signature are not necessarily equivalent as shown in the following example:
Example 24 Let
the DW-code of generator matrix
and
the DW-code of generator matrix
such as
and
are not equivalent and
,
.
We have
.
3.2.4. Case 4:
and
We can have two cases
or
Theorem 25 If
is an
DW-code with
punctual orbits
and if the number of non
punctual orbits is greater than the dimension of the DW-code
then the code
is equivallent to the
DW-code of generator matrix
with
.
Example 26 The
DW-code of generator matrix
is equivallent to the code
of generator matrix
,
,
,
,
,
,
Theorem 27 If
is an
DW-code with
punctual orbits
and if the number of non
punctual orbits is lower than the dimension of the DW-code
then the code
is equivallent to the DW-code of generator matrix
with
.![]()
Example 28 The
DW-code of generator matrix
is equivallent to the code
of generator matrix
,
,
,
,
.
Remark 29 Self-orthogonality.
A code which is equivalent to a self-orthogonal code is also self-orthogonal. The property of self- ortho- gonality is then an invariant of the equivalence of codes. We then have the following points:
・ If
or (
and
)then, up to equivalence, a generator matrix of the code is of the form
where
is not an empty submatrix. If the code is self-othogonal then
. So
and then we have:
![]()
and
and then
![]()
and
then
where
.
and
then
finally
and
and then
・ If
and
the code
is self-orthogonal if and only if
for all
.
3.3. Determination of the Automorphism Group
Theorem 30 The automorphism group of a
DW-code of signature
is isomorphic to
the group direct product
.
Proof. Let
be a generator matrix of the code
. We can assume that
is of the form
where
, ![]()
and
.
For
, let
, let
for all
. Clearly, the subsets
form a partition of
. Now let
.
Clearly the
are subgroups of
and each is isomorphic to
and
for all
. Since forall
,
, it follows that the
are subgroups of
.
Now we are going to show that
is the inner direct product
If
, and
,
, then
.
Let
, then applying this equality to each
yields
,
.
Now let
. Since
, the
are globally invariant under
. Let
the permutation
defined by
, if
, and
elswhere. Then it is clear that
, and this finishes the proof.
Example 31
・ Consider the
DW-code of generator matrix
. It is equivallente to the code
of generator matrix
,
,
,
,
,
and
・ Consider the
DW-code of generator matrix
. It is equivallente to the code
of generator matrix
,
,
,
,
and
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the refrees for their helpful suggestions and remarks.