A simple deterministic reduction for the gap minimum distance of code problem

Abstract

We present a simple deterministic gap-preserving reduction from SAT to the Minimum Distance of Code Problem over . We also show how to extend the reduction to work over any finite field (of constant size). Previously a randomized reduction was known due to Dumer, Micciancio, and Sudan [9], which was recently derandomized by Cheng and Wan [7, 8]. These reductions rely on highly non-trivial coding theoretic constructions whereas our reduction is elementary. As an additional feature, our reduction gives a constant factor hardness even for asymptotically good codes, i.e., having constant rate and relative distance. Previously it was not known how to achieve deterministic reductions for such codes. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.