Automorphism groups of Grassmann codes

We use a theorem of Chow (1949) on line-preserving bijections of Grassmannians to determine the automorphism group of Grassmann codes. Further, we analyze the automorphisms of the big cell of a Grassmannian and then use it to settle an open question of Beelen et al. (2010) concerning the permutation automorphism groups of affine Grassmann codes. Finally, we prove an analogue of Chow's theorem for the case of Schubert divisors in Grassmannians and then use it to determine the automorphism group of linear codes associated to such Schubert divisors. In the course of this work, we also give an alternative short proof of MacWilliams theorem concerning the equivalence of linear codes and a characterization of maximal linear subspaces of Schubert divisors in Grassmannians.Comment: revised versio

On decomposability of 4-ary distance 2 MDS codes, double-codes, and n-quasigroups of order 4

A subset $S$ of $\{0,1,...,2t-1\}^n$ is called a $t$-fold MDS code if every line in each of $n$ base directions contains exactly $t$ elements of $S$. The adjacency graph of a $t$-fold MDS code is not connected if and only if the characteristic function of the code is the repetition-free sum of the characteristic functions of $t$-fold MDS codes of smaller lengths. In the case $t=2$, the theory has the following application. The union of two disjoint $(n,4^{n-1},2)$ MDS codes in $\{0,1,2,3\}^n$ is a double-MDS-code. If the adjacency graph of the double-MDS-code is not connected, then the double-code can be decomposed into double-MDS-codes of smaller lengths. If the graph has more than two connected components, then the MDS codes are also decomposable. The result has an interpretation as a test for reducibility of $n$-quasigroups of order 4. Keywords: MDS codes, n-quasigroups, decomposability, reducibility, frequency hypercubes, latin hypercubesComment: 19 pages. V2: revised, general case q=2t is added. Submitted to Discr. Mat

On the equivalence of linear sets

Let $L$ be a linear set of pseudoregulus type in a line $\ell$ in $\Sigma^*=\mathrm{PG}(t-1,q^t)$, $t=5$ or $t>6$. We provide examples of $q$-order canonical subgeometries $\Sigma_1,\, \Sigma_2 \subset \Sigma^*$ such that there is a $(t-3)$-space $\Gamma \subset \Sigma^*\setminus (\Sigma_1 \cup \Sigma_2 \cup \ell)$ with the property that for $i=1,2$, $L$ is the projection of $\Sigma_i$ from center $\Gamma$ and there exists no collineation $\phi$ of $\Sigma^*$ such that $\Gamma^{\phi}=\Gamma$ and $\Sigma_1^{\phi}=\Sigma_2$. Condition (ii) given in Theorem 3 in Lavrauw and Van de Voorde (Des. Codes Cryptogr. 56:89-104, 2010) states the existence of a collineation between the projecting configurations (each of them consisting of a center and a subgeometry), which give rise by means of projections to two linear sets. It follows from our examples that this condition is not necessary for the equivalence of two linear sets as stated there. We characterize the linear sets for which the condition above is actually necessary.Comment: Preprint version. Referees' suggestions and corrections implemented. The final version is to appear in Designs, Codes and Cryptograph