The graphs of projective codes

Abstract

Consider the Grassmann graph formed by $k$-dimensional subspaces of an $n$-dimensional vector space over the field of $q$ elements ($1<k<n-1$) and denote by $\Pi (n,k{)}_q$ the restriction of this graph to the set of projective $[n,k{]}_q$ codes. In the case when $q\ge \left(\genfrac{}{}{0ex}{}{n}{2}\right)$, we show that the graph $\Pi (n,k{)}_q$ is connected, its diameter is equal to the diameter of the Grassmann graph and the distance between any two vertices coincides with the distance between these vertices in the Grassmann graph. Also, we give some observations concerning the graphs of simplex codes. For example, binary simplex codes of dimension $3$ are precisely maximal singular subspaces of a non-degenerate quadratic form.