The trace dual of nonlinear skew cyclic codes

Abstract

Codes which have a finite field $\mathbb{F}_{q^m}$ as their alphabet but which are only linear over a subfield $\mathbb{F}_q$ are a topic of much recent interest due to their utility in constructing quantum error correcting codes. In this article, we find generators for trace dual spaces of different families of $\mathbb{F}_q$-linear codes over $\mathbb{F}_{q^2}$. In particular, given the field extension $\mathbb{F}_q\leq \mathbb{F}_{q^2}$ with $q$ an odd prime power, we determine the trace Euclidean and trace Hermitian dual codes for the general $\mathbb{F}_q$-linear cyclic $\mathbb{F}_{q^2}$-code. In addition, we also determine the trace Euclidean and trace Hermitian duals for general $\mathbb{F}_q$-linear skew cyclic $\mathbb{F}_{q^2}$-codes, which are defined to be left $\mathbb{F}_q[X]$-submodules of $\mathbb{F}_{q^2}[X;\sigma]/(X^n-1)$, where $\sigma$ denotes the Frobenius automorphism and $\mathbb{F}_{q^2}[X;\sigma]$ the induced skew polynomial ring.