When Does the Extended Code of an MDS Code Remain MDS?

For a given linear code <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathcal {C}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> of length n over <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\mathrm {GF}}(q)$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and a nonzero vector u in <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\mathrm {GF}}(q)^{n}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, Sun, Ding and Chen defined an extended linear code <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\overline {\mathcal {C}}({\mathbf {u}})$ </tex-math></inline-formula> of <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathcal {C}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, which is a generalisation of the classical extended code <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\overline {\mathcal {C}}(-{\mathbf {1}})$ </tex-math></inline-formula> of <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathcal {C}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and called the second kind of an extended code of <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathcal {C}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> (see Finite Fields Appl., vol. 96, 102401, 2024 and Discrete Math., vol. 347, no. 9, 114080, 2024). They developed some general theory of the extended codes <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\overline {\mathcal {C}}({\mathbf {u}})$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and studied the extended codes <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\overline {\mathcal {C}}({\mathbf {u}})$ </tex-math></inline-formula> of several families of linear codes, including cyclic codes, projective two-weight codes, nonbinary Hamming codes, and a family of reversible MDS cyclic codes. The objective of this paper is to investigate the extended codes <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\overline {\mathcal {C}}({\mathbf {u}})$ </tex-math></inline-formula> of MDS codes <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathcal {C}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> over finite fields. The main result of this paper is that the extended code <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\overline {\mathcal {C}}({\mathbf {u}})$ </tex-math></inline-formula> of an MDS <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$[n,k]$ </tex-math></inline-formula> code <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathcal {C}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> remains MDS if and only if the covering radius <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\rho (\mathcal {C}^{\bot })=k$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and the vector u is a deep hole of the dual code <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\mathcal {C}}^{\perp } $ </tex-math></inline-formula>. As applications of this main result, an equivalent statement of MDS Conjecture is presented, the extended codes of the GRS codes and extended GRS codes are investigated, and the covering radii and some deep holes of several families of MDS codes are also determined.