On the Maximal Length of MDS Elliptic Codes

Abstract

The determination of the maximal length of maximum distance separable (MDS) codes arising from elliptic curves is a central problem in coding theory. For an elliptic curve $E$ over $\mathbb{F}_q$, let $\operatorname{MEC}(k,q)$ denote the maximal length of a $q$-ary MDS elliptic code of dimension $k$. It was recently shown that $\operatorname{MEC}(k,q)\le\frac{q+1}{2}+\sqrt{q}$ for $q\ge289$ and $3\le k\le(q+1-2\sqrt{q})/10$, with equality for odd $k$ when $q$ is an odd square. This paper investigates the remaining open cases, namely even dimension $k$, non-square $q$ and fields of characteristic $2$, and provides a complete resolution of the tightness question for the two natural parity regimes of $q+1+\lfloor 2\sqrt{q}\rfloor$. We prove that if the support of $G$ (used to define the code) consists of $\mathbb{F}_q$-rational points, the bound decreases to $\frac{q+1}{2}+\sqrt{q}-1$ for even $k$. Without this restriction, we construct MDS codes attaining $\frac{q+1}{2}+\sqrt{q}$ for even $k$. More generally, we establish $\operatorname{MEC}(k,q)=\frac{q+1+\lfloor2\sqrt{q}\rfloor}{2}$ when $q+1+\lfloor2\sqrt{q}\rfloor$ is even, and $\operatorname{MEC}(k,q)=\frac{q+\lfloor2\sqrt{q}\rfloor}{2}$ when it is odd.