Neighbour transitivity on codes in Hamming graphs

We consider a \emph{code} to be a subset of the vertex set of a \emph{Hamming graph}. In this setting a \emph{neighbour} of the code is a vertex which differs in exactly one entry from some codeword. This paper examines codes with the property that some group of automorphisms acts transitively on the \emph{set of neighbours} of the code. We call these codes \emph{neighbour transitive}. We obtain sufficient conditions for a neighbour transitive group to fix the code setwise. Moreover, we construct an infinite family of neighbour transitive codes, with \emph{minimum distance} $\delta=4$, where this is not the case. That is to say, knowledge of even the complete set of code neighbours does not determine the code

Elusive Codes in Hamming Graphs

We consider a code to be a subset of the vertex set of a Hamming graph. We examine elusive pairs, code-group pairs where the code is not determined by knowledge of its set of neighbours. We construct a new infinite family of elusive pairs, where the group in question acts transitively on the set of neighbours of the code. In our examples, we find that the alphabet size always divides the length of the code, and prove that there is no elusive pair for the smallest set of parameters for which this is not the case. We also pose several questions regarding elusive pairs

Diagonally Neighbour Transitive Codes and Frequency Permutation Arrays

Constant composition codes have been proposed as suitable coding schemes to solve the narrow band and impulse noise problems associated with powerline communication. In particular, a certain class of constant composition codes called frequency permutation arrays have been suggested as ideal, in some sense, for these purposes. In this paper we characterise a family of neighbour transitive codes in Hamming graphs in which frequency permutation arrays play a central rode. We also classify all the permutation codes generated by groups in this family

Characterisation of a family of neighbour transitive codes

We consider codes of length $m$ over an alphabet of size $q$ as subsets of the vertex set of the Hamming graph $\Gamma=H(m,q)$. A code for which there exists an automorphism group $X\leq Aut(\Gamma)$ that acts transitively on the code and on its set of neighbours is said to be neighbour transitive, and were introduced by the authors as a group theoretic analogue to the assumption that single errors are equally likely over a noisy channel. Examples of neighbour transitive codes include the Hamming codes, various Golay codes, certain Hadamard codes, the Nordstrom Robinson codes, certain permutation codes and frequency permutation arrays, which have connections with powerline communication, and also completely transitive codes, a subfamily of completely regular codes, which themselves have attracted a lot of interest. It is known that for any neighbour transitive code with minimum distance at least 3 there exists a subgroup of $X$ that has a $2$-transitive action on the alphabet over which the code is defined. Therefore, by Burnside's theorem, this action is of almost simple or affine type. If the action is of almost simple type, we say the code is alphabet almost simple neighbour transitive. In this paper we characterise a family of neighbour transitive codes, in particular, the alphabet almost simple neighbour transitive codes with minimum distance at least $3$, and for which the group $X$ has a non-trivial intersection with the base group of $Aut(\Gamma)$. If $C$ is such a code, we show that, up to equivalence, there exists a subcode $\Delta$ that can be completely described, and that either $C=\Delta$, or $\Delta$ is a neighbour transitive frequency permutation array and $C$ is the disjoint union of $X$-translates of $\Delta$. We also prove that any finite group can be identified in a natural way with a neighbour transitive code.Comment: 30 Page