Infinite Families of 2-Designs from a Class of Linear Codes Related to Dembowski-Ostrom Functions

Abstract

Due to their important applications to coding theory, cryptography, communications and statistics, combinatorial [Formula: see text]-designs have attracted lots of research interest for decades. The interplay between coding theory and [Formula: see text]-designs started many years ago. It is generally known that [Formula: see text]-designs can be used to derive linear codes over any finite field, and that the supports of all codewords with a fixed weight in a code also may hold a [Formula: see text]-design. In this paper, we first construct a class of linear codes from cyclic codes related to Dembowski-Ostrom functions. By using exponential sums, we then determine the weight distribution of the linear codes. Finally, we obtain infinite families of [Formula: see text]-designs from the supports of all codewords with a fixed weight in these codes. Furthermore, the parameters of [Formula: see text]-designs are calculated explicitly.