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APPROX
The Code Distortion Problem

Authors: Huck Bennett, Matthew Fox, and Bryant Morrell

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 392, Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2026)


Abstract
Two linear error-correcting codes 𝒞₁, 𝒞₂ ⊆ F_qⁿ are called linearly equivalent if there is a linear isometry mapping 𝒞₁ to 𝒞₂. In this work, we generalize the notion of linear equivalence and study the minimum distortion 𝒟(𝒞₁, 𝒞₂) of a linear mapping between codes 𝒞₁, 𝒞₂ ⊆ F_qⁿ, which quantifies how similar 𝒞₁ and 𝒞₂ are. We introduce and study the Code Distortion Problem (CDP), which asks to find a minimum distortion mapping between two input codes 𝒞₁ and 𝒞₂. CDP generalizes the Linear Code Equivalence Problem (LCE), which is essentially the special case of CDP where 𝒟(𝒞₁, C₂) = 1 and which is well-studied because of its role in cryptography. We prove that (decisional) CDP is NP-hard to approximate to within any constant factor, and that it is in Σ₂^P. We also give a single-exponential-time k²-approximation algorithm for CDP, where k is the dimension of the input codes. Furthermore, we give a single-exponential-time ((2k + 1)/3)²-approximation algorithm for a natural special case of CDP, and we show that our analysis is tight in this case. We use techniques from analogous work on the Lattice Distortion Problem (LDP) by Bennett, Dadush, and Stephens-Davidowitz (ESA, 2016). We also introduce or study a number of additional concepts that might be of independent interest. These include an adaptation of the celebrated reduction of Goldreich, Micciancio, Safra, and Seifert (IPL, 1999) from the Shortest Vector Problem (SVP) to the Closest Vector Problem (CVP) on lattices to the analogous problems on codes; successive minima bases for codes; and the matrix 0 → 0 "norm" on subspaces.

Cite as

Huck Bennett, Matthew Fox, and Bryant Morrell. The Code Distortion Problem. In Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 392, pp. 24:1-24:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{bennett_et_al:LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2026.24,
  author =	{Bennett, Huck and Fox, Matthew and Morrell, Bryant},
  title =	{{The Code Distortion Problem}},
  booktitle =	{Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2026)},
  pages =	{24:1--24:22},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-449-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{392},
  editor =	{Singh, Mohit and Gur, Tom},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2026.24},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-277415},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2026.24},
  annote =	{Keywords: Code Distortion, Code Equivalence, Error-Correcting Codes, Metric Embeddings, Approximation Algorithms, Hardness of Approximation}
}

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