Linear Codes Associated to Symmetric Determinantal Varieties: Even Rank Case

Abstract: We consider linear codes over a finite field of odd characteristic, derived from determinantal varieties, obtained from symmetric matrices of bounded ranks. A formula for the weight of a code word is derived. Using this formula, we have computed the minimum distance for the codes corresponding to matrices upper-bounded by any fixed, even rank. A conjecture is proposed for the cases where the upper bound is odd. At the end of the article, tables for the weights of these codes, for spaces of symmetric matrices up to order $5$, are given. We also correct typographical errors in Proposition 1.1/3.1 of [3], and in the last table, and we have rewritten Corollary 4.9 of that paper, and the usage of that Corollary in the proof of Proposition 4.10.