Flavio Salizzoni

Elisa Gorla, Elisa Lorenzo García, Umberto Martínez-Peñas et al.

Which integer sequences are sequences of generalized weights of a linear code? In this paper, we answer this question for linear block codes, rank-metric codes, and more generally for sum-rank metric codes. We do so under an existence assumption for MDS and MSRD codes. We also prove that the same integer sequences appear as sequences of greedy weights of linear block codes, rank-metric codes, and sum-rank metric codes. Finally, we characterize the integer sequences which appear as sequences of relative generalized weights (respectively, relative greedy weights) of linear block codes.

Elisa Gorla, Flavio Salizzoni

Latroids were introduced by Vertigan, who associated a latroid to a linear block code and showed that its Tutte polynomial determines the weight enumerator of the code. The original definition of a latroid is in terms of its rank function. For a complemented lattice, we establish cryptomorphic definitions in terms of independent elements, bases, circuits, and flats. We then associate a latroid to a code over a ring or a field endowed with a general support function and show that the generalized weights of the code can be recovered from the associated latroid. This provides a uniform framework for studying generalized weights and other combinatorial invariants of linear block codes, linear codes over a ring, rank-metric, and sum-rank metric codes.

Andrei Balakin, Miklós Bóna, Marie-Charlotte Brandenburg et al.

Between April 1 and May 15, 2026, a group of 49 mathematicians compiled a dataset of research-level mathematics questions with known answers. Most of the work was done during the 3-day workshop *Benchmarks in Leipzig* with 35 participants at the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences in Leipzig, Germany. We present the resulting collection of 100 questions. We evaluated these questions in three stages: a single attempt by five state-of-the-art LLMs, followed by a 20-runs-per-model evaluation with three of these models, and finally a 3-run attempt with two heavy-thinking models. After Stage 1, 41 questions remained completely unsolved; after Stage 2, this count dropped to 16; and we concluded Stage 3 with only 2 unsolved questions. This demonstrates that the mathematical reasoning capabilities of LLMs are becoming impressive.

Altan B. Kilic, Alberto Ravagnani, Flavio Salizzoni

We consider the problem of computing the minimum length of functional batch and PIR codes of fixed dimension and for a fixed list size, over an arbitrary finite field. We recover, generalize, and refine several results that were previously obtained for binary codes. We present new upper and lower bounds for the minimum length, and discuss the asymptotic behaviour of this parameter. We also compute its value for several parameter sets. The paper also offers insights into the "correct" list size to consider for the Functional Batch Conjecture over non-binary finite fields, and establishes various supporting results.

Valentina Astore, Martino Borello, Alain Couvreur et al.

The relationship between linear codes in the Hamming metric and projective algebraic varieties has led to deep interactions between coding theory and algebraic geometry, with classical examples such as Reed-Solomon codes and the rational normal curve. On the other hand, the sum-rank metric has recently gained attention due to applications in network coding, distributed storage, and post-quantum cryptography, with linearized Reed-Solomon codes emerging as optimal constructions. Despite recent advances, their structural and geometric properties are still not fully understood, and existing distinguishers remain limited. In this paper, we develop a geometric framework for linearized Reed-Solomon codes by considering a $q$-analogue of the rational normal curve. This yields a geometric characterization for certain parameter choices and reveals that the corresponding sets of points satisfy unexpectedly many $(q+1)$-degree hypersurface conditions. Our approach extends Schur-product-based techniques from the Hamming and rank-metric settings to the sum-rank metric case. Finally, we study the Hilbert function of the associated coordinate ring, providing a detailed description of its behavior and identifying its regularity, which also sheds new light on Gabidulin codes.