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Goppa code
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In mathematics, an algebraic geometric code (AG-code), otherwise known as a

Goppa code, is a general type of linear code constructed by using an algebraic
curve X over a finite field . Such codes were introduced by Valerii Denisovich
Goppa. In particular cases, they can have interesting extremal properties. They
should not be confused with binary Goppa codes that are used, for instance, in the
McEliece cryptosystem.

Contents
1 Construction
2 Function code
3 Residue code
4 References
5 External links

Construction
Traditionally, an AG-code is constructed from a non-singular projective curve X
over a finite field by using a number of fixed distinct -rational points

:= {P1, P2, ..., Pn} ⊂ X ( ) on X.

Let G be a divisor on X, with a support that consists of only rational points and
that is disjoint from the Pi's. Thus ∩ supp(G) = Ø

By the Riemann-Roch theorem, there is a unique finite-dimensional vector space,

L(G), with respect to the divisor G. The vector space is a subspace of the function
field of X.

There are two main types of AG-codes that can be constructed using the above
information.

Function code
The function code (or dual code) with respect to a curve X, a divisor G and the set
is constructed as follows.
Let , be a divisor, with the Pi defined as above. We

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usually denote a Goppa code by C(D,G). We now know all we need to define the
Goppa code:

C(D,G) = {(f(P1), ..., f(Pn))|f L(G)}⊂

For a fixed basis

f1, f2, ..., fk

for L(G) over , the corresponding Goppa code in is spanned over by the
vectors

(fi(P1), fi(P2), ..., fi(Pn)).

Therefore

is a generator matrix for C(D,G)

Equivalently, it is defined as the image of

where f is defined by .

The following shows how the parameters of the code relate to classical
parameters of linear systems of divisors D on C (cf. Riemann–Roch theorem for
more). The notation l(D) means the dimension of L(D).

Proposition A The dimension of the Goppa code C(D,G) is

k = l(G) − l(G − D),

Proposition B The minimal distance between two code words is

Proof A

Since

we must show that

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Suppose . Then , so div(f) > D. Thus,

.
Conversely, suppose .
Then

div(f) > D
since

(G doesn't “fix” the problems with the − D, so f must do that instead.) It follows
that

Proof B
To show that , suppose the Hamming weight of α(f) is d. That
means that f(Pi) = 0 for n − d Pis, say . Then
, and

Taking degrees on both sides and noting that

deg(div(f)) = 0,
we get

so

. Q.E.D.

Residue code
The residue code can be defined as the dual of the function code, or as the
residue of some functions at the Pi's.

References
Key One Chung, Goppa Codes, December 2004, Department of Mathematics,

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Iowa State University.

External links
An undergraduate thesis on Algebraic Geometric Coding Theory
(http://commons.wikimedia.org
/wiki/File:Algebraic_Geometric_Coding_Theory.pdf)
Goppa Codes by Key One Chung (http://orion.math.iastate.edu/linglong
/Math690F04/Goppa%20codes.pdf)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goppa_code"
Categories: Coding theory | Algebraic curves | Finite fields

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