REVIEW 2 major objections 5 minor 30 references
Skew polycyclic codes over a non-chain ring are classified by four generators once the defining polynomial is central.
Reviewed by Pith at T0; open to challenge. T0 means a machine referee read the full paper against a public rubric. the ladder, T0–T4 →
T0 review · grok-4.5
2026-07-10 09:43 UTC pith:LAMC2G3S
load-bearing objection Solid incremental classification of skew polycyclic codes over a standard non-chain ring; the four-generator form and free-code criterion are clean under the stated centrality hypotheses, and the examples produce real MDS Gray images. the 2 major comments →
A Study Of Skew-Polycyclic Codes Over A Non-Chain Ring
The pith
A machine-rendered reading of the paper's core claim, the machinery that carries it, and where it could break.
Core claim
Every left ideal of the quotient by a power of a central monic polynomial is uniquely of the form generated by four elements f1+uf12+vf13+uvf14, uf2+vf23+uvf24, vf3+uvf34 and uvf4, where the fi are monic proper divisors (or zero) of the projected power, they form a right-divisibility chain f4 divides each fi which divides f1, and the correction terms have strictly lower degree. Free codes arise exactly when f1 equals f4.
What carries the argument
The unique four-generator form of left ideals in R[x;Theta]/<f^j> under centrality of f (Theorem 3.2), obtained by successive projections onto the u-, v- and uv-torsion and application of the right division algorithm.
Load-bearing premise
The defining polynomial must be central, so that the quotient is two-sided and left ideals coincide with polycyclic codes; without that the whole classification and the later CRT decomposition fail.
What would settle it
Exhibit a non-central monic f for which some left ideal of the quotient cannot be written in the claimed four-generator form, or produce a free left ideal whose generator is not a monic right divisor of f^j.
Editorial analysis
A structured set of objections, weighed in public.
Referee Report
Summary. The paper studies skew polycyclic codes over the finite non-chain ring R = F_{p^m} + u F_{p^m} + v F_{p^m} + uv F_{p^m} (u^{2} = v^{2} = 0, uv = vu). Under the standing centrality hypothesis on f(x) (Proposition 2.1), it classifies left ideals of the quotient R[x; Θ]/⟨f(x)^j⟩ (Theorem 3.2) via successive projections and torsion submodules, characterizes free codes by monic right divisors (Proposition 3.4 / Corollary 3.5), and reduces skew (λ, Θ)-constacyclic codes of length np^s to these polycyclic components via a CRT decomposition into orthogonal idempotents (Section 3.2). Section 4 specializes the classification to length p^s for the five unit types of λ, while Section 5 treats the commutative case (Θ = id) according to the irreducibility of x^n − α_0, extending earlier results over F_{p^m} + u F_{p^m}. Examples produce Gray images that include MDS codes.
Significance. The work supplies a systematic generator description for skew polycyclic and constacyclic codes over a natural non-chain alphabet that properly contains the chain rings previously treated in the literature. The free-code criterion, rank formula, and CRT reduction are clean and immediately usable for enumeration and construction; the explicit length-p^s lists and Gray-image tables give concrete optimal codes. The extension of the Cao–Zhao results from F_{p^m} + u F_{p^m} to the four-dimensional non-chain ring is a genuine, if incremental, advance for the algebraic theory of repeated-root codes. The centrality hypothesis is stated clearly and is the natural price of working with two-sided ideals in the skew setting.
major comments (2)
- Theorem 4.1 (and the parallel Type-II–IV lists for the other unit classes) enumerates dozens of generator configurations without an independent verification that every combination of monic divisors and correction polynomials satisfying the right-divisibility conditions of Theorem 3.2 and Corollary 3.3 actually yields a distinct ideal, or that no further relations collapse some of them. A short uniqueness or cardinality argument (or a reference to a computer check for small p^s) would make the classification load-bearing rather than merely formal.
- Section 3.2 assumes that every irreducible factor f_j of the central polynomial x^{np^s} − λ remains central. While Proposition 2.1 gives necessary and sufficient conditions, the paper never verifies that such a complete central factorization exists for a general unit λ and automorphism Θ of order dividing np^s. Without that existence statement the CRT reduction is conditional on an extra hypothesis that is not automatically inherited from the centrality of x^{np^s} − λ.
minor comments (5)
- Several arXiv preprints cited as [BMMOa26], [CAMK26], [TS26], [RPM26] carry 2026 dates; if they remain unpublished the bibliographic entries should be updated or flagged as preprints.
- In Lemma 3.1 the two determinant conditions α1β2 − α2β1 ≠ 0 and α1β2 + α2β1 ≠ 0 are stated without a short geometric interpretation (invertibility of the linear map on the maximal ideal); a one-line remark would help the reader.
- Tables 1–3 list Gray-image parameters but do not record the minimum-distance tables or the Magma commands used; a short reproducibility note would strengthen the experimental claims.
- Typographical inconsistencies appear in the notation for the ambient rings (R^{jl}_{u^{2},v^{2},f} versus R^{ps}_{u^{2},v^{2},λ_i}); a uniform convention would improve readability.
- The proof of Proposition 5.1 proceeds by induction on degree but never explicitly invokes that the residue field is a field; a parenthetical reminder would make the argument self-contained.
Circularity Check
No significant circularity; structure theorems derived from right-division, projections and CRT under explicit centrality hypotheses, with only non-load-bearing self-citations to related preprints.
full rationale
The paper's central claims (Theorem 3.2 generator form for left ideals of R^{jl}_{u^{2},v^{2},f}, free-code characterization in Prop. 3.4/Cor. 3.5, CRT decomposition of skew constacyclic codes, and the five-type classification for length p^s) are obtained by successive application of the right-division algorithm (McDonald), coefficient-wise projections π_v/π_u/μ to known classifications over the chain rings R_{u^{2}} and R_{v^{2}} (cited from HS23), and the Chinese Remainder Theorem for orthogonal idempotents. Centrality of f(x) and of x^{np^s}-λ is stated as an explicit hypothesis (Prop. 2.1) required for the quotient to be two-sided; it is not derived from the conclusions. Free rank formulae follow immediately once the monic right-divisor generator is obtained. Section 4 specializations and the commutative case (Section 5) reuse the same generators plus Hensel's lemma; none of the listed ideal types is forced by a normalization choice or by restating a fitted quantity. Self-citations ([CAMK26] for a weight-preserving map, [BMMOa26] for the definition of skew polycyclic codes) supply auxiliary lemmas or context and are not used as uniqueness theorems that forbid alternatives. The work is therefore self-contained against its stated algebraic assumptions and external benchmarks (MDS parameters obtained via Magma/Gray map).
Axiom & Free-Parameter Ledger
axioms (4)
- standard math Right division algorithm holds in R[x;Theta] whenever the leading coefficient of the divisor is a unit (McDonald, Finite Rings with Identity).
- domain assumption A monic polynomial f is central in the skew polynomial ring if and only if Theta fixes its coefficients, the coefficients satisfy the twisted commutation relations, and Theta^n = id (Proposition 2.1).
- domain assumption The units of R_u2,v2,pm fall into exactly five conjugacy classes lambda1=alpha, …, lambda5=alpha+beta u+gamma v+delta uv.
- standard math Hensel's lemma lifts coprime factorizations from the residue field to the local ring R.
read the original abstract
For a prime \(p\) and a positive integer \(m\), let \(\mathbb{F}_{p^m}\) be the finite field of cardinality \(p^m\), and let $ R_{u^2,v^2,p^m} =\mathbb{F}_{p^m}+u\mathbb{F}_{p^m}+v\mathbb{F}_{p^m} +uv\mathbb{F}_{p^m}, ~ u^2=v^2=0,\ uv=vu, $ be a finite non-chain ring. In this paper, we study skew polycyclic codes of length \(lj\) associated with \(f(x)^j\), where \(f(x)\) is a central polynomial of degree \(l\) in $R_{u^2, v^2, p^m}[x; \Theta],$ where $\Theta$ being an automorphism of \(R_{u^2,v^2,p^m}\). We describe these codes, characterize free skew polycyclic codes, and determine their ranks. Under suitable centrality assumptions, we decompose the quotient ring associated with \(x^{np^s}-\lambda\), where \(\gcd(n,p)=1\) and \(\Theta(\lambda)=\lambda\). This reduces the study of skew \((\lambda,\Theta)\)-constacyclic codes of length \(np^s\) to the study of left ideals of $\frac{R_{u^2,v^2,p^m}[x;\Theta]}{\langle f(x)^j\rangle}, $ where \(f(x)\) is a central irreducible divisor of degree \(l\) of \(x^{np^s}-\lambda\), for an invertible element \(\lambda\in R_{u^2,v^2,p^m}\) and \(j\in\mathbb{N}\). We then apply these results to skew \((\lambda,\Theta)\)-constacyclic codes of length \(p^s\) for different classes of units \(\lambda\). Several examples are presented to illustrate the theory and to obtain optimal codes. Finally, when \(\Theta\) is the identity automorphism, we study constacyclic codes of length \(np^s\) over \(R_{u^2,v^2,p^m}\), according as \(x^n-\alpha_0\) is irreducible or reducible over \(\mathbb{F}_{p^m}\). These results extend the work of \cite{CCDF18} and \cite{ZTG18} on constacyclic codes of length \(np^s\) over \(\mathbb{F}_{p^m}+u\mathbb{F}_{p^m}\) to the finite non-chain ring \(R_{u^2,v^2,p^m}\).
Reference graph
Works this paper leans on
-
[1]
Finite rings with identity , author=
-
[2]
Elementary Number Theory , author =
-
[3]
Chahal, S. and Maheshwary, S. , TITLE =. Finite Fields Appl. , FJOURNAL =. 2025 , PAGES =
work page 2025
-
[4]
Hesari, R.M. and Samei, K. , TITLE =. Finite Fields Appl. , FJOURNAL =. 2023 , PAGES =
work page 2023
- [5]
-
[6]
Boucher, D. and Geiselmann, W. and Ulmer, F. , TITLE =. Appl. Algebra Engrg. Comm. Comput. , FJOURNAL =. 2007 , NUMBER =
work page 2007
-
[7]
Chen, B. and Dinh, H.Q. and Liu, H. and Wang, L. , TITLE =. Finite Fields Appl. , FJOURNAL =. 2016 , PAGES =
work page 2016
-
[8]
Dinh, H.Q. and Dhompongsa, S. and Sriboonchitta, S. , TITLE =. Discrete Math. , FJOURNAL =. 2017 , NUMBER =
work page 2017
- [9]
- [10]
-
[11]
Cyclic codes of length n over finite chain rings , author=. 2025 , eprint=
work page 2025
-
[12]
Skew polycyclic over finite chain rings associated to trinomials , author=. 2026 , eprint=
work page 2026
-
[13]
Hesari, R.M. and Mohebbei, M. and Rezaei, R. and Samei, K. , TITLE =. Commun. Korean Math. Soc. , FJOURNAL =. 2024 , NUMBER =
work page 2024
-
[14]
Jitman, S. and Ling, S. and Udomkavanich, P. , TITLE =. Adv. Math. Commun. , FJOURNAL =. 2012 , NUMBER =
work page 2012
- [15]
-
[16]
Pathak, S. and Raj, R. and Maity, D. , TITLE =. Cryptogr. Commun. , FJOURNAL =. 2025 , NUMBER =
work page 2025
-
[17]
Zhao, W. and Tang, X. and Gu, Z. , TITLE =. Finite Fields Appl. , FJOURNAL =. 2018 , PAGES =
work page 2018
-
[18]
Bagheri, S. and Hesari, R.M. and Rezaei, H. and Samei, K. , TITLE =. Iran. J. Sci. Technol. Trans. A Sci. , FJOURNAL =. 2022 , NUMBER =
work page 2022
-
[19]
Hesari, R.M. and Samei, K. , TITLE =. Iran. J. Sci. , FJOURNAL =. 2026 , NUMBER =
work page 2026
-
[20]
Cao, Y. and Cao, Y. and Dinh, H.Q. and Fu, F.W. and Gao, Jian and Sriboonchitta, Songsak , TITLE =. Adv. Math. Commun. , FJOURNAL =. 2018 , NUMBER =
work page 2018
-
[21]
Bosma, W. and Cannon, J. and Playoust, C. , TITLE=. Journal of Symbolic Computation , VOLUME=. 1997 , NUMBER=
work page 1997
-
[22]
Kewat, P. K. and Ghosh, B. and Pattanayak, S. , TITLE =. Finite Fields Appl. , FJOURNAL =
-
[23]
Raj, R. and Pathak, S. and Maity, D. , TITLE =. Comput. Appl. Math. , FJOURNAL =. 2026 , NUMBER =
work page 2026
-
[24]
Dinh, H.Q. and Kewat, P.K. and Kushwaha, S. and Yamaka, W. , TITLE =. Discrete Math. , FJOURNAL =. 2020 , NUMBER =
work page 2020
-
[25]
Skew Constacyclic Codes Of Length $np^s$ over $ \frac{\mathbb{F}_{p^m}[u]}{\langle u^k \rangle}
Chahal, S. and Antil, S. and Maheshwary, S. and Khan, M. , year=. Skew Constacyclic Codes Of Length. 2605.15925 , archivePrefix=
work page internal anchor Pith review Pith/arXiv arXiv
-
[26]
Skew Polycyclic Codes over $\frac{\mathbb{F}_{p^m}[u]}{\langle u^t \rangle}$
Tiwari, A. and Sarma, R. , year=. Skew Polycyclic Codes Over. 2605.13020 , archivePrefix=
work page internal anchor Pith review Pith/arXiv arXiv
- [27]
-
[28]
Nuh, A. and Karadeniz, S. and Yildiz, B. , TITLE =. Appl. Algebra Engrg. Comm. Comput. , FJOURNAL =. 2013 , NUMBER =
work page 2013
-
[29]
Yildiz, B. and Karadeniz, S. , TITLE =. Des. Codes Cryptogr. , FJOURNAL =. 2011 , NUMBER =
work page 2011
-
[30]
Dougherty, S.T. and Karadeniz, S. and Yildiz, B. , TITLE =. Des. Codes Cryptogr. , FJOURNAL =. 2012 , NUMBER =
work page 2012
discussion (0)
Sign in with ORCID, Apple, or X to comment. Anyone can read and Pith papers without signing in.