Spreads and ovoids in finite generalized quadrangles

This paper is a survey on the existence and non-existence of ovoids and spreads in the known finite generalized quadrangles. It also contains the following new results. We prove that translation generalized quadrangles of order (s,s ²), satisfying certain properties, have a spread. This applies to three known infinite classes of translation generalized quadrangles. Further a new class of ovoids in the classical generalized quadranglesQ(4, 3 ^e ),e3, is constructed. Then, by the duality betweenQ(4, 3 ^e ) and the classical generalized quadrangleW (3 ^e ), we get line spreads of PG(3, 3 ^e ) and hence translation planes of order 3^2e . These planes appear to be new. Note also that only a few classes of ovoids ofQ(4,q) are known. Next we prove that each generalized quadrangle of order (q ²,q) arising from a flock of a quadratic cone has an ovoid. Finally, we give the following characterization of the classical generalized quadranglesQ(5,q): IfS is a generalized quadrangle of order (q,q ²),q even, having a subquadrangleS isomorphic toQ(4,q) and if inS each ovoid consisting of all points collinear with a given pointx ofS\S is an elliptic quadric, thenS is isomorphic toQ(5,q).     

A positive answer to the basis problem

lcub;x _n rcub; with lcub;x _n ,x* _n rcub; biorthogonal is a “uniformly minimal basis with quasifixed brackets and permutations” of a Banach spaceX if lcub;x _n rcub; andx* _n rcub; are both bounded. Moreover, there is an increasing sequence lcub;q _m rcub; of positive integers such that, for eachx′ ofX, settingq′(0)=0, $$x' = \sum\limits_{m = 0}^\infty { \sum\limits_{n = q'(m) + 1}^{q'(m + 1)} {x_{\pi '(n)}^ * (x')x_{\pi '(n)} ,} } $$ , where, for eachm≥1,q(m)+1≤q′(m)≤q(m+1) while $$\left\{ {\pi '(n)} \right\}_{n = q(m) + 1}^{q(m + 1)} is a permutation of \left\{ n \right\}_{n = q(m) + 1}^{q(m + 1)} .$$ . Then, for each subspaceY of a separable Banach spaceX, there exists a uniformly minimal basis with quasi-fixed brackets and permutations ofY, which can be extended to a uniformly minimal basis with quasi-fixed brackets and permutations ofX.     

Linear independence in finite spaces

The maximum number m ₂(n, q) of points in PG(n, q), n2, such that no three are collinear is known precisely for (n, q)=(n,2), (2,q), (3,q), (4, 3), (5,3). In this paper an improved upper bound of order q ^n–1 –1/2q ^n–2 is obtained for q even when n4 and q>2. A necessary preliminary is an improved upper bound for m₂(3, q), the maximum size of a k-cap not contained in an ovoid. It is shown that and that m₂(3, 4)=14.     

Some Characterizations of Finite Hermitian Veroneseans

We characterize the finite Veronesean of all Hermitian varieties of PG(n,q²) as the unique representation of PG(n,q²) in PG(d,q), d n(n+2), where points and lines of PG(n,q²) are represented by points and ovoids of solids, respectively, of PG(d,q), with the only condition that the point set of PG(d,q) corresponding to the point set of PG(n,q²) generates PG(d,q). Using this result for n=2, we show that is characterized by the following properties: (1) ; (2) each hyperplane of PG(8,q) meets in q²+1, q³+1 or q³+q²+1 points; (3) each solid of PG(8,q) having at least q+3 points in common with shares exactly q²+1 points with it.51E24     

Special point sets inPG(n,q) and the structure of sets with the maximal number of nuclei

The structure of _{n– 1}-sets inPG(n, q) with more thanq – 1 nuclei is investigated. It is shown that classification of these sets with the maximal numberq ^{n– 1}-q ^{n– 2} of nuclei is equivalent to the classification of (q + l)-sets inPG(2,q) havingq –1 nuclei.Dedicated to Professer Walter Benz for his 60^th birthday     

Mixed Partitions of Projective Geometries

Starting from a linear collineation of PG(2n–1,q) suitably constructed from a Singer cycle of GL(n,q), we prove the existence of a partition of PG(2n–1,q) consisting of two (n–1)-subspaces and caps, all having size (qⁿ–1)/(q–1) or (qⁿ–1)/(q+1) according as n is odd or even respectively. Similar partitions of quadrics or hermitian varieties into two maximal totally isotropic subspaces and caps of equal size are also obtained. We finally consider the possibility of partitioning the Segre variety of PG(8,q) into caps of size q²+q+1 which are Veronese surfaces.     

On blocking sets of quadrics

We determine the three smallest blocking sets with respect to lines of the quadric Q(2n, q) withn 3 and the two smallest blocking sets with respect to lines of the quadric Q⁺(2n+1,q) withn 2. These results will be used in a forthcoming paper for determining the smallest blocking sets with respect to higher dimensional subspaces in the quadrics Q(2n, q) and Q⁺(2n+ 1, q).     

Combinatorial complexity bounds for arrangements of curves and spheres

We present upper and lower bounds for extremal problems defined for arrangements of lines, circles, spheres, and alike. For example, we prove that the maximum number of edges boundingm cells in an arrangement ofn lines is (m ^2/3 n ^2/3 +n), and that it isO(m ^2/3 n ^2/3 (n) +n) forn unit-circles, where(n) (and later(m, n)) is a function that depends on the inverse of Ackermann's function and grows extremely slowly. If we replace unit-circles by circles of arbitrary radii the upper bound goes up toO(m ^3/5 n ^4/5 (n) +n). The same bounds (without the(n)-terms) hold for the maximum sum of degrees ofm vertices. In the case of vertex degrees in arrangements of lines and of unit-circles our bounds match previous results, but our proofs are considerably simpler than the previous ones. The maximum sum of degrees ofm vertices in an arrangement ofn spheres in three dimensions isO(m ^4/7 n ^9/7 (m, n) +n ²), in general, andO(m ^3/4 n ^3/4 (m, n) +n) if no three spheres intersect in a common circle. The latter bound implies that the maximum number of unit-distances amongm points in three dimensions isO(m ^3/2 (m)) which improves the best previous upper bound on this problem. Applications of our results to other distance problems are also given.The research of the second author was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant CCR-8714565. Work by the fourth author has been supported by Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-87-K-0129, by National Science Foundation Grant No. NSF-DCR-83-20085, by grants from the Digital Equipment Corporation and the IBM Corporation, and by a research grant from the NCRD, the Israeli National Council for Research and Development. A preliminary version of this paper has appeared in theProceedings of the 29th IEEE Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science, 1988.     

Theq-gamma function forx<0

F. H. Jackson defined aq analogue of the gamma function which extends theq-factorial (n!) _q =1(1+q)(1+q+q ²)...(1+q+q ²+...+q ^n–1) to positivex. Askey studied this function and obtained analogues of most of the classical facts about the gamma function, for 0<q<1. He proved an analogue of the Bohr-Mollerup theorem, which states that a logarithmically convex function satisfyingf(1)=1 andf(x+1)=[(q ^x –1)/(q–1)]f(x) is in fact theq-gamma function He also studied the behavior of _q asq changes and showed that asq1^–, theq-gamma function becomes the ordinary gamma function forx>0.I proved many of these results forq>1. The current paper contains a study of the behavior of _q (x) forx<0 and allq>0. In addition to some basic properties of _q , we will study the behavior of the sequence {x _n (q)} of critical points asn orq changes.     

Sur un problème de Rényi

Let (n) be the number of all prime divisors ofn and (n) the number of distinct prime divisors ofn. We definev _q (x)=|{nx(n)–(n)=q}|. In this paper, we give an asymptotic development ofv _q (x); this improves on previous results.

     

On the Riesz basis property of the root functions in certain regular boundary value problems

The differential operatorly=y+q(x)y with periodic (antiperiodic) boundary conditions that are not strongly regular is studied. It is assumed thatq(x) is a complex-valued function of classC ⁽⁴⁾[0, 1] andq(0)q(1). We prove that the system of root functions of this operator forms a Riesz basis in the spaceL ₂(0, 1).Translated fromMatematicheskie Zametki, Vol. 64, No. 4, pp. 558–563, October, 1998.     

On the number of critical free contacts of a convex polygonal object moving in two-dimensional polygonal space

We show that the number of critical positions of a convex polygonal objectB moving amidst polygonal barriers in two-dimensional space, at which it makes three simultaneous contacts with the obstacles but does not penetrate into any obstacle isO(kn _s (kn)) for somes6, wherek is the number of boundary segments ofB,n is the number of wall segments, and _s (q) is an almost linear function ofq yielding the maximal number of breakpoints along the lower envelope (i.e., pointwise minimum) of a set ofq continuous functions each pair of which intersect in at mosts points (here a breakpoint is a point at which two of the functions simultaneously attain the minimum). We also present an example where the number of such critical contacts is (k ² n ²), showing that in the worst case our upper bound is almost optimal.Work on this paper by the second author has been supported by Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-82-K-0381, National Science Foundation Grant No. NSF-DCR-83-20085, and by grants from the Digital Equipment Corporation, and the IBM Corporation.     

Abelian coverings of finite general linear groups and an application to their non-commuting graphs

In this paper we introduce and study a family A_n(q)\mathcal{A}_{n}(q) of abelian subgroups of GL_n(q){\rm GL}_{n}(q) covering every element of GL_n(q){\rm GL}_{n}(q). We show that A_n(q)\mathcal{A}_{n}(q) contains all the centralizers of cyclic matrices and equality holds if q>n. For q>2, we obtain an infinite product expression for a probabilistic generating function for |A_n(q)||\mathcal{A}_{n}(q)|. This leads to upper and lower bounds which show in particular that

On the directions problem in <Emphasis Type="Italic">AG</Emphasis>(<Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis>, <Emphasis Type="Italic">q</Emphasis>)

We prove that if q = p ^h , p a prime, do not exist sets U í AG(n,q){U {\subseteq} AG(n,q)}, with |U| = q ^k and 1 < k < n, determining N directions where

Central limit theorem for integrated square error of kernel estimators of spherical density

LetX ₁,…,X _n be iid observations of a random variableX with probability density functionf(x) on the q-dimensional unit sphere Ω_q in R^q+1,q ⩾ 1. Let be a kernel estimator off(x). In this paper we establish a central limit theorem for integrated square error off _n under some mild conditions.     

Efficient Computation of Rectilinear Geodesic Voronoi Neighbor in the Presence of Obstacles

In this paper we present an algorithm to compute the rectilinear geodesic voronoi neighbor of an arbitrary query pointqamong a setSofmpoints in the presence of a set ofnvertical line segment obstacles inside a rectangular floor. The distance between a pair of points α and β is the shortest rectilinear distance avoiding the obstacles in and is denoted by δ(α, β). The rectilinear geodesic voronoi neighbor of an arbitrary query pointq,RGVN(q) is the pointp_i ∈ Ssuch that δ(q, p_i) is minimum. The algorithm suggests a preprocessing of the elements of the setsSand inO((m + n)log(m + n)) time such that for an arbitrary query pointq, theRGVNquery can be answered inO(log(m + n)) time. The space required for storing the preprocessed information isO(n + m log m). If the points inSare placed on the boundary of the rectangular floor, a different technique is adopted to decrease the space complexity toO(m + n). This technique works even if the obstacles are rectangles instead of line segments. Finally, the parallelization of the preprocessing steps for the latter algorithm is suggested, which takesO(log³(m + n)) time, usingO((m + n)^1.5/log²(m + n)) processors andO(log(m + n)) query time.     

On a Class of Symmetric Balanced Generalized Weighing Matrices

Let q be a prime power and m a positive integer. A construction method is given to multiply the parametrs of an -circulant BGW(v=1+q+q ₂+·+q ^m , q ^m , q ^m –q ^m–1) over the cyclic group C _n of order n with (q–1)/n being an even integer, by the parameters of a symmetric BGW(1+q ^m+1, q ^m+1, q ^m+1–q ^m ) with zero diagonal over a cyclic group C _vn to generate a symmetric BGW(1+q+·+q ^2m+1,q ^2m+1,q ^2m+1–q ^2m) with zero diagonal, over the cyclic group C _n . Applications include two new infinite classes of strongly regular graphs with parametersSRG(36(1+25+·+25^2m+1),15(25)^2m+1,6(25)^2m+1,6(25)^2m+1), and SRG(36(1+49+·+49^2m+1),21(49)^2m+1,12(49)^2m+1,12(49)^2m+1).     

A hemisystem of a nonclassical generalised quadrangle

The concept of a hemisystem of a generalised quadrangle has its roots in the work of B. Segre, and this term is used here to denote a set of points such that every line ℓ meets in half of the points of ℓ. If one takes the point-line geometry on the points of the hemisystem, then one obtains a partial quadrangle and hence a strongly regular point graph. The only previously known hemisystems of generalised quadrangles of order (q, q ²) were those of the elliptic quadric , q odd. We show in this paper that there exists a hemisystem of the Fisher–Thas–Walker–Kantor generalised quadrangle of order (5, 5²), which leads to a new partial quadrangle. Moreover, we can construct from our hemisystem the 3· A ₇-hemisystem of , first constructed by Cossidente and Penttila.      

A Remarkable q,t-Catalan Sequence and q-Lagrange Inversion

We introduce a rational function C _n(q, t) and conjecture that it always evaluates to a polynomial in q, t with non-negative integer coefficients summing to the familiar Catalan number . We give supporting evidence by computing the specializations and C _n (q) = C _n(q,1) = C _n(1,q). We show that, in fact, D _n(q) q-counts Dyck words by the major index and C _n(q) q-counts Dyck paths by area. We also show that C _n(q, t) is the coefficient of the elementary symmetric function e _nin a symmetric polynomial DH_n(x; q, t) which is the conjectured Frobenius characteristic of the module of diagonal harmonic polynomials. On the validity of certain conjectures this yields that C _n(q, t) is the Hilbert series of the diagonal harmonic alternants. It develops that the specialization DH_n(x; q, 1) yields a novel and combinatorial way of expressing the solution of the q-Lagrange inversion problem studied by Andrews [2], Garsia [5] and Gessel [11]. Our proofs involve manipulations with the Macdonald basis {P (x; q, t)} which are best dealt with in -ring notation. In particular we derive here the -ring version of several symmetric function identities.Work carried out under NSF grant support.     

Triads, Flocks of Conics and Q -(5,q)

We show that if an ovoid of Q (4,q),q even, admits a flock of conics then that flock must be linear. It follows that an ovoid of PG (3,q),q even, which admits a flock of conics must be an elliptic quadric. This latter result is used to give a characterisation of the classical example Q ^-(5,q) among the generalized quadrangles T ₃( ), where is an ovoid of PG (3q) and q is even, in terms of the geometric configuration of the centres of certain triads.