arXiv subjects

Dabin Zheng

Publications and source records attributed to Dabin Zheng.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Solutions to Three Conjectures and an Open Problem on Binary BCH Codes

BCH codes are among the most important classes of cyclic codes and have played a central role in coding theory and its applications. One of the fundamental problems in the study of BCH codes is to determine their exact minimum distances, which directly govern their error-correcting capability. Although the BCH bound provides a general lower bound, determining the exact minimum distance is often difficult, and many parameter families remain unresolved. In this paper, we investigate three conjectures and an open problem on binary BCH codes proposed by Chen, Xie, and Ding in \cite{Chen59}. We settle these conjectures on the exact minimum distances of three families of binary BCH codes by constructing codewords attaining the BCH bound. Beyond these conjectures, we further study the more difficult family codes and determine its minimum distance for some cases. We further study Open Problem 8.4: affirmative answers are obtained for the first two length families, while for the third family a sufficient condition is established and a counterexample shows that the unrestricted assertion does not hold in general.

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arXiv2026

Four constructions of self-dual binary cyclic codes with a lower bound on the minimum distances better than the square-root bound

In spite of the intensive study of cyclic codes and the recent construction of an infinite family of self-dual binary cyclic codes whose minimum distances have the square-root bound in IEEE Trans. IT, vol. 71, no. 4, 2025, it is still a 70-year-old open problem whether there is an infinite family of self-dual binary cyclic codes whose minimum distances have a lower bound better than the square-root bound. This paper settles this long-standing open problem in coding theory by presenting infinite families of such self-dual binary cyclic codes. As by-products, several families of cyclic codes with better parameters than those in some references are also constructed in this paper.

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arXiv2026

A Structural Characterization of Cyclotomic Cosets with Applications to Affine-Invariant Codes and BCH Codes

Affine-invariant codes have attracted considerable attention due to their rich algebraic structure and strong theoretical properties. In this paper, we study a family of affine-invariant codes whose defining set consists of all descendants of elements in the cyclotomic coset of a single specified element. Our main contributions are as follows. First, we establish a new combinatorial result that determines exactly the size of such descendant sets, which is of independent interest in the study of cyclotomic cosets. Second, using this result, we derive explicit formulas for the dimensions of the corresponding affine-invariant codes and their associated cyclic codes, and we establish lower bounds on the minimum distances of their duals. In particular, under appropriate parameter choices, these codes yield narrow-sense primitive BCH codes and their extended counterparts. For the special class of narrow-sense primitive BCH codes with designed distance $δ= (b+1)q^{m-t-1}$, where $1 \leq b \leq q-1$ and $0 \leq t \leq m-1$, we provide exact dimension formulas and an improved lower bound on the minimum distance. The results presented here extend and sharpen several previously known results, and provide refined tools for the parametric analysis of BCH codes and their duals.

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arXiv2026

Strong Singleton-Like Bounds, Quasi-Perfect Codes and Distance-Optimal Codes in the Sum-Rank Metric

Codes in the sum-rank metric have received many attentions in recent years, since they have wide applications in the multishot network coding, the space-time coding and the distributed storage. In this paper, by constructing covering codes in the sum-rank metric from covering codes in the Hamming metric, we derive new upper bounds on sizes, the covering radii and the block length functions of codes in the sum-rank metric. As applications, we present several strong Singleton-like bounds that are tighter than the classical Singleton-like bound when block lengths are large. In addition, we give the explicit constructions of the distance-optimal sum-rank codes of matrix sizes $s\times s$ and $2\times 2$ with minimum sum-rank distance four respectively by using cyclic codes in the Hamming metric. More importantly, we present an infinite families of quasi-perfect $q$-ary sum-rank codes with matrix sizes $2\times m$. Furthermore, we construct almost MSRD codes with larger block lengths and demonstrate how the Plotkin sum can be used to give more distance-optimal sum-rank codes.

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arXiv2025

A Generalized $χ_n$-Function

The mapping $χ_n$ from $\F_{2}^{n}$ to itself defined by $y=χ_n(x)$ with $y_i=x_i+x_{i+2}(1+x_{i+1})$, where the indices are computed modulo $n$, has been widely studied for its applications in lightweight cryptography. However, $χ_n $ is bijective on $\F_2^n$ only when $n$ is odd, restricting its use to odd-dimensional vector spaces over $\F_2$. To address this limitation, we introduce and analyze the generalized mapping $χ_{n, m}$ defined by $y=χ_{n,m}(x)$ with $y_i=x_i+x_{i+m} (x_{i+m-1}+1)(x_{i+m-2}+1) \cdots (x_{i+1}+1)$, where $m$ is a fixed integer with $m\nmid n$. To investigate such mappings, we further generalize $χ_{n,m}$ to $θ_{m, k}$, where $θ_{m, k}$ is given by $y_i=x_{i+mk} \prod_{\substack{j=1,\,\, m \nmid j}}^{mk-1} \left(x_{i+j}+1\right), \,\,{\rm for }\,\, i\in \{0,1,\ldots,n-1\}$. We prove that these mappings generate an abelian group isomorphic to the group of units in $\F_2[z]/(z^{\lfloor n/m\rfloor +1})$. This structural insight enables us to construct a broad class of permutations over $\F_2^n$ for any positive integer $n$, along with their inverses. We rigorously analyze algebraic properties of these mappings, including their iterations, fixed points, and cycle structures. Additionally, we provide a comprehensive database of the cryptographic properties for iterates of $χ_{n,m}$ for small values of $n$ and $m$. Finally, we conduct a comparative security and implementation cost analysis among $χ_{n,m}$, $χ_n$, $χχ_n$ (EUROCRYPT 2025 \cite{belkheyar2025chi}) and their variants, and prove Conjecture~1 proposed in~\cite{belkheyar2025chi} as a by-product of our study. Our results lead to generalizations of $χ_n$, providing alternatives to $χ_n$ and $χχ_n$.

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arXiv2025

Improvement of the square-root low bounds on the minimum distances of BCH codes and Matrix-product codes

The task of constructing infinite families of self-dual codes with unbounded lengths and minimum distances exhibiting square-root lower bounds is extremely challenging, especially when it comes to cyclic codes. Recently, the first infinite family of Euclidean self-dual binary and nonbinary cyclic codes, whose minimum distances have a square-root lower bound and have a lower bound better than square-root lower bounds are constructed in \cite{Chen23} for the lengths of these codes being unbounded. Let $q$ be a power of a prime number and $Q=q^2$. In this paper, we first improve the lower bounds on the minimum distances of Euclidean and Hermitian duals of BCH codes with length $\frac{q^m-1}{q^s-1}$ over $\mathbb{F}_q$ and $\frac{Q^m-1}{Q-1}$ over $\mathbb{F}_Q$ in \cite{Fan23,GDL21,Wang24} for the designed distances in some ranges, respectively, where $\frac{m}{s}\geq 3$. Then based on matrix-product construction and some lower bounds on the minimum distances of BCH codes and their duals, we obtain several classes of Euclidean and Hermitian self-dual codes, whose minimum distances have square-root lower bounds or a square-root-like lower bounds. Our lower bounds on the minimum distances of Euclidean and Hermitian self-dual cyclic codes improved many results in \cite{Chen23}. In addition, our lower bounds on the minimum distances of the duals of BCH codes are almost $q^s-1$ or $q$ times that of the existing lower bounds.

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arXiv2025

Several new infinite families of NMDS codes with arbitrary dimensions supporting $t$-designs

Near maximum distance separable (NMDS) codes, where both the code and its dual are almost maximum distance separable, play pivotal roles in combinatorial design theory and cryptographic applications. Despite progress in fixed dimensions (e.g., dimension 4 codes by Ding and Tang \cite{Ding2020}), constructing NMDS codes with arbitrary dimensions supporting $t$-designs ($t\geq 2$) has remained open. In this paper, we construct two infinite families of NMDS codes over $\mathbb{F}_q$ for any prime power $q$ with flexible dimensions and determine their weight distributions. Further, two additional families with arbitrary dimensions over $\mathbb{F}_{2^m}$ supporting $2$-designs and $3$-designs, and their weight distributions are obtained. Our results fully generalize prior fixed-dimension works~\cite{DingY2024,Heng2023,Heng20231,Xu2022}, and affirmatively settle the Heng-Wang conjecture \cite{Heng2023} on the existence of NMDS codes with flexible parameters supporting $2$-designs.

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arXiv2024

A new class of self-orthogonal linear codes and their applications

Self-orthogonal codes are a subclass of linear codes that are contained within their dual codes. Since self-orthogonal codes are widely used in quantum codes, lattice theory and linear complementary dual (LCD) codes, they have received continuous attention and research. In this paper, we construct a class of self-orthogonal codes by using the defining-set approach, and determine their explicit weight distributions and the parameters of their duals. Some considered codes are optimal according to the tables of best codes known maintained at \cite{Grassl} and a class of almost maximum distance separable (AMDS) codes from their duals are obtained. As applications, we obtain a class of new quantum codes, which are MDS or AMDS according to the quantum Singleton bound under certain conditions. Some examples show that the constructed quantum codes have the better parameters than known ones maintained at \cite{Bierbrauer}. Furthermore, a new class of LCD codes are given, which are almost optimal according to the sphere packing bound.

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arXiv2024

The weight hierarchies of three classes of linear codes

Studying the generalized Hamming weights of linear codes is a significant research area within coding theory, as it provides valuable structural information about the codes and plays a crucial role in determining their performance in various applications. However, determining the generalized Hamming weights of linear codes, particularly their weight hierarchy, is generally a challenging task. In this paper, we focus on investigating the generalized Hamming weights of three classes of linear codes over finite fields. These codes are constructed by different defining sets. By analysing the intersections between the definition sets and the duals of all $r$-dimensional subspaces, we get the inequalities on the sizes of these intersections. Then constructing subspaces that reach the upper bounds of these inequalities, we successfully determine the complete weight hierarchies of these codes.

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arXiv2023

The duals of narrow-sense BCH codes with length $\frac{q^m-1}λ$

BCH codes are an interesting class of cyclic codes due to their efficient encoding and decoding algorithms. In the past sixty years, a lot of progress on the study of BCH codes has been made, but little is known about the properties of their duals. Recently, in order to study the duals of BCH codes and the lower bounds on their minimum distances, a new concept called dually-BCH code was proposed by authors in \cite{GDL21}. In this paper, the lower bounds on the minimum distances of the duals of narrow-sense BCH codes with length $\frac{q^m-1}λ$ over $\mathbb{F}_q$ are developed, where $λ$ is a positive integer satisfying $λ\, |\, q-1$, or $λ=q^s-1$ and $s\, |\,m$. In addition, the sufficient and necessary conditions in terms of the designed distances for these codes being dually-BCH codes are presented. Many considered codes in \cite{GDL21} and \cite{Wang23} are the special cases of the codes showed in this paper. Our lower bounds on the minimum distances of the duals of BCH codes include the bounds stated in \cite{GDL21} as a special case. Several examples show that the lower bounds are good in some cases.

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arXiv2023

The Weight Hierarchies of Linear Codes from Simplicial Complexes

The study of the generalized Hamming weight of linear codes is a significant research topic in coding theory as it conveys the structural information of the codes and determines their performance in various applications. However, determining the generalized Hamming weights of linear codes, especially the weight hierarchy, is generally challenging. In this paper, we investigate the generalized Hamming weights of a class of linear code $\C$ over $\bF_q$, which is constructed from defining sets. These defining sets are either special simplicial complexes or their complements in $\bF_q^m$. We determine the complete weight hierarchies of these codes by analyzing the maximum or minimum intersection of certain simplicial complexes and all $r$-dimensional subspaces of $\bF_q^m$, where $1\leq r\leq {\rm dim}_{\bF_q}(\C)$.

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arXiv2023

A New Centralized Multi-Node Repair Scheme of MSR codes with Error-Correcting Capability

Minimum storage regenerating (MSR) codes, with the MDS property and the optimal repair bandwidth, are widely used in distributed storage systems (DSS) for data recovery. In this paper, we consider the construction of $(n,k,l)$ MSR codes in the centralized model that can repair $h$ failed nodes simultaneously with $e$ out $d$ helper nodes providing erroneous information. We first propose the new repair scheme, and give a complete proof of the lower bound on the amount of symbols downloaded from the helped nodes, provided that some of helper nodes provide erroneous information. Then we focus on two explicit constructions with the repair scheme proposed. For $2\leq h\leq n-k$, $k+2e\leq d \leq n-h$ and $d\equiv k+2e \;(\mod{h})$, the first one has the UER $(h, d)$-optimal repair property, and the second one has the UER $(h, d)$-optimal access property. Compared with the original constructions (Ye and Barg, IEEE Tran. Inf. Theory, Vol. 63, April 2017), our constructions have improvements in three aspects: 1) The proposed repair scheme is more feasible than the one-by-one scheme presented by Ye and Barg in a parallel data system; 2) The sub-packetization is reduced from $\left(\operatorname{lcm}(d-k+1, d-k+2,\cdots, d-k+h)\right)^n$ to $\left((d-2e-k+h)/h\right)^n$, which reduces at least by a factor of $(h(d-k+h))^n$; 3) The field size of the first construction is reduced to $|\mathbb{F}| \geq n(d-2e-k+h)/h$, which reduces at least by a factor of $h(d-k+h)$. Small sub-packetization and small field size are preferred in practice due to the limited storage capacity and low computation complexity in the process of encoding, decoding and repairing.

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arXiv2023

Two classes of reducible cyclic codes with large minimum symbol-pair distances

The high-density data storage technology aims to design high-capacity storage at a relatively low cost. In order to achieve this goal, symbol-pair codes were proposed by Cassuto and Blaum \cite{CB10,CB11} to handle channels that output pairs of overlapping symbols. Such a channel is called symbol-pair read channel, which introduce new concept called symbol-pair weight and minimum symbol-pair distance. In this paper, we consider the parameters of two classes of reducible cyclic codes under the symbol-pair metric. Based on the theory of cyclotomic numbers and Gaussian period over finite fields, we show the possible symbol-pair weights of these codes. Their minimum symbol-pair distances are twice the minimum Hamming distances under some conditions. Moreover, we obtain some three symbol-pair weight codes and determine their symbol-pair weight distribution. A class of MDS symbol-pair codes is also established. Among other results, we determine the values of some generalized cyclotomic numbers.

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arXiv2022

Generalized Hamming Weights of Linear Codes from Quadratic Forms over Finite Fields of Even Characteristic

The generalized Hamming weight of linear codes is a natural generalization of the minimum Hamming distance. They convey the structural information of a linear code and determine its performance in various applications, and have become one of important research topics in coding theory. Recently, Li (IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory, 67(1): 124-129, 2021) and Li and Li (Discrete Math., 345: 112718, 2022) obtained the complete weight hierarchy of linear codes from a quadratic form over a finite field of odd characteristic by analysis of the solutions of the restricted quadratic equation in its subspace. In this paper, we further determine the complete weight hierarchy of linear codes from a quadratic form over a finite field of even characteristic by carefully studying the behavior of the quadratic form on the subspaces of this field and its dual space, and complement the results of Li and Li.

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arXiv2022

Strict Half-Singleton Bound, Strict Direct Upper Bound for Linear Insertion-Deletion Codes and Optimal Codes

Insertion-deletion codes (insdel codes for short) are used for correcting synchronization errors in communications, and in other many interesting fields such as DNA storage, date analysis, race-track memory error correction and language processing, and have recently gained a lot of attention. To determine the insdel distances of linear codes is a very challenging problem. The half-Singleton bound on the insdel distances of linear codes due to Cheng-Guruswami-Haeupler-Li is a basic upper bound on the insertion-deletion error-correcting capabilities of linear codes. On the other hand the natural direct upper bound $d_I(\mathcal C) \leq 2d_H(\mathcal C)$ is valid for any insdel code. In this paper, for a linear insdel code $\mathcal C$ we propose a strict half-Singleton upper bound $d_I(\mathcal C) \leq 2(n-2k+1)$ if $\mathcal C$ does not contain the codeword with all 1s, and a stronger direct upper bound $d_I(\mathcal C) \leq 2(d_H(\mathcal C)-t)$ under a weak condition, where $t\geq 1$ is a positive integer determined by the generator matrix. We also give optimal linear insdel codes attaining our strict half-Singleton bound and direct upper bound, and show that the code length of optimal binary linear insdel codes with respect to the (strict) half-Singleton bound is about twice the dimension. Interestingly explicit optimal linear insdel codes attaining the (strict) half-Singleton bound, with the code length being independent of the finite field size, are given.

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arXiv2021

Rack-Aware MSR Codes with Multiple Erasure Tolerance

The minimum storage rack-aware regenerating (MSRR) code is a variation of regenerating codes that achieves the optimal repair bandwidth for a single node failure in the rack-aware model. The authors in~\cite{Chen-Barg2019} and~\cite{Zhou-Zhang2021} provided explicit constructions of MSRR codes for all parameters to repair a single failed node. This paper generalizes the results in~\cite{Chen-Barg2019} to the case of multiple node failures. We propose a class of MDS array codes and scalar Reed-Solomon (RS) codes, and show that these codes have optimal repair bandwidth and error resilient capability for multiple node failures in the rack-aware storage model. Besides, our codes keep the same access level as the low-access constructions in~\cite{Chen-Barg2019} and~\cite{Zhou-Zhang2021}.

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arXiv2021

Two-to-one mappings and involutions without fixed points over $\bF_{2^n}$

In this paper, two-to-one mappings and involutions without any fixed point on finite fields of even characteristic are investigated. First, we characterize a closed relationship between them by implicit functions and develop an AGW-like criterion for 2-to-1 mappings. Using this criterion, some new constructions of 2-to-1 mappings are proposed and eight classes of 2-to-1 mappings of the form $(x^{2^k}+x+δ)^{s}+cx$ are obtained. Finally, a number of classes of involutions without any fixed point are derived from the known 2-to-1 mappings by the relation between them.

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arXiv2021

Several classes of PcN power functions over finite fields

Recently, a new concept called multiplicative differential cryptanalysis and the corresponding $c$-differential uniformity were introduced by Ellingsen et al.~\cite{Ellingsen2020}, and then some low differential uniformity functions were constructed. In this paper, we further study the constructions of perfect $c$-nonlinear (PcN) power functions. First, we give a necessary and sufficient condition for the Gold function to be PcN and a conjecture on all power functions to be PcN over $\gf(2^m)$. Second, several classes of PcN power functions are obtained over finite fields of odd characteristic for $c=-1$ and our theorems generalize some results in~\cite{Bartoli,Hasan,Zha2020}. Finally, the $c$-differential spectrum of a class of almost perfect $c$-nonlinear (APcN) power functions is determined.

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