Weight distribution of cyclic codes defined by quadratic forms and related curves

Abstract

We consider cyclic codes CL associated to quadratic trace forms inm variables (Formula Presented) determined by a family L of q-linearized polynomials R over Fqm, and three related codes CL,0, CL,1, and CL,2. We describe the spectra for all these codes when L is an even rank family, in terms of the distribution of ranks of the forms QR in the family L, and we also computethe complete weight enumerator for CL. In particular, considering the family L = ‹xql›, with l fixed in N, we give the weight distribution of four parametrized families of cyclic codes Cl, Cl,0,Cl,1, and Cl,2 over Fq with zeros(Formula Presented) respectively,where q = ps with p prime, α is a generator of F*qm, and m/(m,l)is even. Finally, we give simple necessary and sufficient conditions for Artin–Schreier curves yp−y = xR(x)+βx, p prime, associated to polynomials R ∈ L to be optimal. We then obtain several maximal and minimal such curves inthe case (Formula Presented).