Kernel block rank profile solves classification of special linear Hadamard codes

The kernel-block rank profile and a complete classification of $\mathbb{Z}_2\mathbb{Z}_4\mathbb{Z}_8$-linear Hadamard codes

Information Theory

Summary

Hadamard codes are specialized error-correcting codes that can be built using mathematical structures from number systems like Z2, Z4, and Z8. Previous methods to classify these codes by their length, rank, and kernel dimension were incomplete because different codes could look the same based on these features. The authors introduce a new classification tool called the kernel-block rank profile, which looks more closely at how code components group together. This tool uniquely identifies these codes, allowing for a complete classification.

What this means in practice

  • For error correcting code designers: Differentiate and classify special Z2 Z4 Z8 linear Hadamard codes precisely by their kernel-block rank profile to optimize code selection in communications.
  • For cryptographic system developers: Verify distinct equivalence classes of Hadamard codes generated from additive structures to improve system robustness against code replication.

Authors

Dipak K. Bhunia

Abstract

The $\mathbb{Z}_2\mathbb{Z}_4\mathbb{Z}_8$-additive codes are subgroups of $\mathbb{Z}_2^{α_1}\times\mathbb{Z}_4^{α_2}\times\mathbb{Z}_8^{α_3}$, and a $\mathbb{Z}_2\mathbb{Z}_4\mathbb{Z}_8$-linear Hadamard code is the Gray map image of such a code. A recursive construction of $\mathbb{Z}_2\mathbb{Z}_4\mathbb{Z}_8$-additive Hadamard codes $\mathcal H^{t_1,t_2,t_3}$, with all $α_i\neq0$, $t_1\geq1$, $t_2\geq0$, and $t_3\geq1$, is known, as are the linearity, kernel dimension, and rank of the corresponding codes $H^{t_1,t_2,t_3}$ of length $2^t$, where $t+1=3t_1+2t_2+t_3$. Yet these invariants do not completely classify the family. Two infinite families of pairs of distinct types share the length, rank and kernel dimension, and for classified lengths $2^t$, $3\leq t\leq11$, such pairs were separated only by computer equivalence tests. In this paper, we introduce an equivalence invariant that resolves these cases. The kernel partitions the binary coordinates into blocks, two coordinates lying in the same block when every kernel word takes the same value in both; the \emph{kernel-block rank profile} is the multiset of the dimensions of the linear span punctured on these blocks. Unlike rank and kernel dimension, which are global, this invariant records how much of the span survives on each block. We compute it for the whole family: there are $2^{t_1+t_2+t_3-1}$ blocks, all of size $2^{2t_1+t_2}$, and the profile takes at most two values $t_2+\binom{t_1+2}{2}$ and $t_2+2+\binom{t_1+1}{2}$, whose difference is $t_1-1$; it is constant precisely when $t_1=1$. Hence, the profile recovers $t_1$, and the length and kernel dimension recover $t_2$ and $t_3$. Two codes of the family with the same length are therefore equivalent if and only if their types coincide, and the number of pairwise nonequivalent such codes of length $2^t$ is $\lfloor(t^2+6)/12\rfloor$ for every $t\geq3$.