On the generalization of $g$-circulant MDS matrices

A matrix $M$ over the finite field $ \mathbb{F}q $ is called \emph{maximum distance separable} (MDS) if all of its square submatrices are non-singular. These MDS matrices are very important in cryptography and coding theory because they provide strong data protection and help spread information efficiently. In this paper, we introduce a new type of matrix called a \emph{consta-$g$-circulant matrix}, which extends the idea of $g$-circulant matrices. These matrices come from a linear transformation defined by the polynomial $ h(x) = x^m - λ+ \sum{i=0}^{m-1} h_i x^i $ over $ \mathbb{F}q $. We find the upper bound of such matrices exist and give conditions to check when they are invertible. This helps us know when they are MDS matrices. If the polynomial $ x^m - λ$ factors as $ x^m - λ= \prod{i=1}^{t} f_i(x)^{e_i}, $ where each ( f_i(x) ) is irreducible, then the number of invertible consta-$g$-circulant matrices is $ N \cdot \prod_{i=1}^{t} \left( q^{°f_i} - 1 \right), $ where $r$ is the multiplicative order of $λ$, and ( N ) is the number of integers ( k ) such that $ 0 \leq k < \left\lfloor \frac{m - 1}{r} \right\rfloor + 1 \quad \text{and} \quad \gcd(1 + rk, m) = 1. $ This formula help us to reduce the number of cases to check whether such matrices is MDS. Moreover, we give complete characterization of $g$-circulant MDS matrices of order 3 and 4. Additionally, inspired by skew polynomial rings, we construct a new variant of $g$-circulant matrix. In the last, we provide some examples related to our findings.

💡 Research Summary

The paper investigates a new class of matrices that generalize both circulant and (g)-circulant matrices by incorporating a non‑zero scalar (\lambda) from the finite field (\mathbb{F}_{q}). These are called consta‑(g)-circulant matrices. Each such matrix is associated with a polynomial

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