Weight-preserving isomorphisms between spaces of continuous functions: The scalar case

Abstract: Let $\mathbb F$ be a finite field and let $\mathcal A$ and $\mathcal B$ be vector spaces of $\mathbb F$-valued continuous functions defined on locally compact spaces $X$ and $Y$, respectively. We look at the representation of linear bijections $H:\mathcal A\longrightarrow \mathcal B$ by continuous functions $h:Y\longrightarrow X$ as weighted composition operators. In order to do it, we extend the notion of Hamming metric to infinite spaces. Our main result establishes that under some mild conditions, every Hamming isometry can be represented as a weighted composition operator. Connections to coding theory are also highlighted.