On the Minimal Distance of Binary Self-Dual Cyclic Codes

Abstract

In this paper, an explicit construction of binary self-dual cyclic codes of length <i xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">n</i> going to infinity with a minimal distance at least half the square root of <i xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">n</i> is presented. The same idea is also used to construct more general binary cyclic codes with a large minimal distance. Finally, in the special case of self-dual cyclic codes, a simplified version of a proof by Conway and Sloane is given, showing an upper bound for the distance of binary self-dual codes.