A geometric approach to Mathon maximal arcs

In 1969 Denniston [3] gave a construction of maximal arcs of degree d in Desarguesian projective planes of even order q, for all d dividing q. In 2002 Mathon [8] gave a construction method generalizing the one of Denniston. We will give a new geometric approach to these maximal arcs. This will allow us to count the number of isomorphism classes of Mathon maximal arcs of degree 8 in PG(2,h²), h prime.     

New Maximal Arcs in Desarguesian Planes

Constructions are described of maximal arcs in Desarguesian projective planes utilizing sets of conics on a common nucleus in PG(2, q). Several new infinite families of maximal arcs in PG(2, q) are presented and a complete enumeration is carried out for Desarguesian planes of order 16, 32, and 64. For each arc we list the order of its stabilizer and the numbers of subarcs it contains. Maximal arcs may be used to construct interesting new partial geometries, 2-weight codes, and resolvable Steiner 2-designs.     

Degree 8 Maximal Arcs in PG(2,2), h Odd

In a recent paper R. Mathon gave a new construction method for maximal arcs in finite Desarguesian projective planes that generalised a construction of Denniston. He also gave several instances of the method to construct new maximal arcs. In this paper, the structure of the maximal arcs is examined to give geometric and algebraic methods for proving when the maximal arcs are not of Denniston type. New degree 8 maximal arcs are also constructed in PG(2,2^h), h5, h odd. This, combined with previous results, shows that every Desarguesian projective plane of (even) order greater that 8 contains a degree 8 maximal arc that is not of Denniston type.     

A characterisation of spreads ovally-derived from Desarguesian spreads

We characterise all spreads that are obtainable from Desarguesian spreads by replacing a partial spread consisting of translation ovals; the corresponding ovally-derived planes are generalised André planes, of order 2 ^N , although not all generalised André planes are ovallyderived from Desarguesian planes. Our analysis allows us to obtain a complete classification of all nearfield planes that are ovally-derived from Desarguesian planes. It turns out that whether or not a nearfield plane is ovally-derived from a Desarguesian plane depends solely on the parametersq andr, where GF (q) is the kern, andr is the dimension of the plane. Our results also imply that a Hall plane of even orderq ² can be ovally-derived from a Desarguesian spread if and only ifq is a square.     

Characterization of Translation Planes by Orbit Lengths

The Desarguesian, Hall, and Hering translation planes of order q² are characterized as exactly those translation planes of odd order with spreads in PG (3,q) that admit a linear collineation group with infinite orbits one of length q+1 and i of length (q-q) /i for i=1 or 2.     

Mixed partitions and related designs

We define a mixed partition of Π =  PG(d, q ^r ) to be a partition of the points of Π into subspaces of two distinct types; for instance, a partition of PG(2n ? 1, q ²) into (n ? 1)-spaces and Baer subspaces of dimension 2n ? 1. In this paper, we provide a group theoretic method for constructing a robust class of such partitions. It is known that a mixed partition of PG(2n ? 1, q ²) can be used to construct a (2n ? 1)-spread of PG(4n ? 1, q) and, hence, a translation plane of order q ²ⁿ . Here we show that our partitions can be used to construct generalized Andrè planes, thereby providing a geometric representation of an infinite family of generalized Andrè planes. The results are then extended to produce mixed partitions of PG(rn ? 1, q ^r ) for r ≥ 3, which lift to (rn ? 1)-spreads of PG(r ² n ? 1, q) and hence produce $2-(q^{r^2n},q^{rn},1)$ (translation) designs with parallelism. These designs are not isomorphic to the designs obtained from the points and lines of AG(r, q ^rn ).     

Planar Oval Sets in Desarguesian Planes of Even Order

A planar oval set in PG (2, q), q even, is a set of q ² ovals in PG (2, q) with common nucleus which intersect pairwise in one point. We classify such sets satisfying an extra condition, namely the regular Desarguesian planar oval sets, as the sets which consist of the images of an oval under all elations with center the nucleus of that oval.     

On the Grassmanian of lines in PG(4,q) and R(1,2) reguli

An R(1,2) regulus is a collection of q+1 mutually skew planes in PG(5,q) with the property that a line meeting three of the planes must meet all the planes. An (l,π)-configuration is the collection of lines in PG(4,q) meeting a line l and a plane π skew to l. A correspondence between (l,π)-configurations in PG(4-,q) and R(1,2) reguli in the associated Grassmanian space G(1,4) is examined. Bose has shown that R(1,2) reguli represent Baer subplanes of a Desarguesian projective plane in a linear representation of the plane. With the purpose of examining the relations between two Baer subplanes of PG(2,q²), the author examines the possible intersections of a 3-flat with an R(1,2) regulus.     

Note on disjoint blocking sets in Galois planes

In this paper, we show that there are at least cq disjoint blocking sets in PG(2,q), where c ≈ 1/3. The result also extends to some non‐Desarguesian planes of order q. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Combin Designs 14: 149–158, 2006     

A nearfield-free definition of regular Hughes planes and some embeddings of PG(3,q) in Hughes planes of order q 4

We give a nearfield-free definition of some finite and infinite incidence systems by means of half-points and half-lines and show that they are projective planes. We determine a planar ternary ring for these planes and use it to determine the full collineation group and to demonstrate some embeddings of these planes among themselves. We show that these planes include all finite regular Hughes planes and many infinite ones. We also show that PG(3, q) embeds in Hu(q ⁴) (and show infinite versions of this embedding). Dan Hughes 80th Birthday.     

The Classification of Projective Planes of Order q3 with Cone-Representations in PG (6, q)

The classification of cone-representations of projective planes of orderq ³ of index 3 and rank 4 (and so in PG(6,^q)) is completed. Any projective plane with a non-spread representation (being a cone-representation of the second kind) is a dual generalised Desarguesian translation plane, as found by Jha and Johnson, and conversely. Indeed, given any collineation of PG(2,^q) with no fixed points, there exists such a projective plane of order q³ , where q is a prime power, that has the second kind of cone-representation of index 3 and rank 4 in PG(6,q). An associated semifield plane of order q ³ is also constructed at most points of the plane. Although Jha and Johnson found this plane before, here we can show directly the geometrical connection between these two kinds of planes.     

Two-transitive groups on a hyperbolic unital

A classification given previously of all projective translation planes of order q² that admit a collineation group G admitting a two-transitive orbit of q+1 points is applied to show that the only projective translation planes of order q² admitting a hyperbolic unital acting two-transitively on a secant are the Desarguesian planes and the unital is a Buekenhout hyperbolic unital.     

Desarguesian partial parallelisms

This article establishes connections between Desarguesian partial parallelisms of deficiency one in PG(3,q) and translation planes of orderq ⁴ admitting a collineation group isomorphic to SL(2,q) which is generated by Baer collineations.The author is grateful to Professor Alan Prince for helpful conversations with respect to this article and, in particular, with respect to the actual bounds for certain maximal partial spreads.The author is grateful to the referee for helpful comments in the writing of this article.     

On arcs sharing the maximum number of points with ovals in cyclic affine planes of odd order

The sporadic complete 12‐arc in PG(2, 13) contains eight points from a conic. In PG(2,q) with q>13 odd, all known complete k‐arcs sharing exactly ½(q+3) points with a conic 𝒞 have size at most ½(q+3)+2, with only two exceptions, both due to Pellegrino, which are complete (½(q+3)+3) arcs, one in PG(2, 19) and another in PG(2, 43). Here, three further exceptions are exhibited, namely a complete (½(q+3)+4)‐arc in PG(2, 17), and two complete (½(q+3)+3)‐arcs, one in PG(2, 27) and another in PG(2, 59). The main result is Theorem 6.1 which shows the existence of a (½(q^r+3)+3)‐arc in PG(2,q^r) with r odd and q≡3 (mod 4) sharing ½(q^r+3) points with a conic, whenever PG(2,q) has a (½(q^r+3)+3)‐arc sharing ½(q^r+3) points with a conic. A survey of results for smaller q obtained with the use of the MAGMA package is also presented. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Combin Designs 18: 25–47, 2010     

Conics and caps

In this article, we begin with arcs in PG(2, q ⁿ ) and show that they correspond to caps in PG(2n, q) via the André/Bruck?CBose representation of PG(2, q ⁿ ) in PG(2n, q). In particular, we show that a conic of PG(2, q ⁿ ) that meets ?_?? in x points corresponds to a (q ⁿ ?+?1 ? x)-cap in PG(2n, q). If x?=?0, this cap is the intersection of n quadrics. If x?=?1 or 2, this cap is contained in the intersection of n quadrics and we discuss ways of extending these caps. We also investigate the structure of the n quadrics.     

Mixed partitions of PG(3,q)

A mixed partition of PG(2n−1,q²) is a partition of the points of PG(2n−1,q²) into (n−1)-spaces and Baer subspaces of dimension 2n−1. In (Bruck and Bose, J. Algebra 1 (1964) 85) it is shown that such a mixed partition of PG(2n−1,q²) can be used to construct a (2n−1)-spread of PG(4n−1,q) and hence a translation plane of order q²ⁿ. In this paper, we provide several new examples of such mixed partitions in the case when n=2.     

Projective k-arcs and 2-level secret-sharing schemes

Motivated by applications to 2-level secret sharing schemes, we investigate k-arcs contained in a (q + 1)-arc Γ of PG(3, q), q even, which have only a small number of focuses on a real axis of Γ. Doing so, we also investigate hyperfocused and sharply focused arcs contained in a translation oval of PG(2, q).