Minimum distances of primitive narrow-sense BCH codes via good zero-sets

Abstract

Determining the exact minimum distances of BCH codes remains a open problem. We establish the minimum distances of several families of primitive narrow-sense BCH codes, showing that they attain their designed distances. Our approach centers on $\mathbb{F}_q$-good zero-sets, which we introduce through a derivative condition on their vanishing polynomials. We show that a $q$-ary primitive narrow-sense BCH code of length $q^m-1$ and designed distance $2\leqδ\leq q^m-1$ has minimum distance $δ$ if and only if there exists an $\mathbb{F}_q$-good zero-set of cardinality $δ+1$ in the finite field $\mathbb{F}_{q^m}$ with $q^m$ elements. To construct $\mathbb{F}_q$-good zero-sets, we develop several methods based on polynomial substitutions, power maps, and shifted inverses, as well as direct constructions using polynomials of special forms. Together with suitable initial $\mathbb{F}_q$-good zero-sets, including those arising from known minimum-distance results, these methods yield new good zero-sets of various cardinalities and hence families of primitive narrow-sense BCH codes whose minimum distances equal their designed distances. These families cover a broad range of designed distances, with several known minimum-distance results recovered as special cases.