Binary Parseval frames from group orbits

Abstract

Binary Parseval frames share many structural properties with real and complex ones. On the other hand, there are subtle differences, for example that the Gramian of a binary Parseval frame is characterized as a symmetric idempotent whose range contains at least one odd vector. Here, we study binary Parseval frames obtained from the orbit of a vector under a group representation, in short, binary Parseval group frames. In this case, the Gramian of the frame is in the algebra generated by the right regular representation. We identify equivalence classes of such Parseval frames with binary functions on the group that satisfy a convolution identity. This allows us to find structural constraints for such frames. We use these constraints to catalogue equivalence classes of binary Parseval frames obtained from group representations. As an application, we study the performance of binary Parseval frames generated with abelian groups for purposes of error correction. We show that $Z_p^q$ is always preferable to $Z_{p^q}$ when searching for best performing codes associated with binary Parseval group frames.