Perfect Binary Codes: Classification and Properties

摘要: An r-perfect binary code is a subset of ℤ2n such that for any word, there is a unique codeword at Hamming distance at most r. Such a code is r-error-correcting. Two codes are equivalent if one can be obtained from the other by permuting the coordinates and adding a constant vector. The main result of this thesis is a computer-aided classification, up to equivalence, of the 1-perfect binary codes of length 15. In an extended 1-perfect code, the neighborhood of a codeword corresponds to a Steiner quadruple system. To utilize this connection, we start with a computational classification of Steiner quadruple systems of order 16. This classification is also used to establish the nonexistence of Steiner quintuple systems S(4, 5, 17). The classification of the codes is used for computational examination of their properties. These properties include occurrences of Steiner triple and quadruple systems, automorphisms, ranks, structure of i-components and connections to orthogonal arrays and mixed perfect codes. It is also proved that extended 1-perfect binary codes are equivalent if and only if their minimum distance graphs are isomorphic.