Caps on Elliptic Quadrics

G. L. Ebert (1985) constructed (qⁿ + 1)-caps in PG(2n − 1, q), n even, which were the orbits of the subgroup of order qⁿ + 1 of a cyclic Singer group of PG(2n − 1, q). This article shows that these caps are the intersection of n − 1 linearly independent elliptic quadrics of PG(2n − 1, q).     

Geometry of Cubic and Quartic Hypersurfaces over Finite Fields

Let YPⁿ be a cubic hypersurface defined over GF(q). Here, we study the Finite Field Nullstellensatz of order [q/3] for the set Y(q) of its GF(q)-points, the existence of linear subspaces of PG(n,q) contained in Y(q) and the possibility to join any two points of Y(q) by the union of two lines of PG(n,q) entirely contained in Y(q). We also study the existence of linear subspaces defined over GF(q) for the intersection of Y with s quadrics and for quartic hypersurfaces.     

On sizes of complete caps in projective spaces PG(n, q) and arcs in planes PG(2, q)

More than thirty new upper bounds on the smallest size t ₂(2, q) of a complete arc in the plane PG(2, q) are obtained for (169 ≤ q ≤ 839. New upper bounds on the smallest size t ₂(n, q) of the complete cap in the space PG(n, q) are given for n = 3 and 25 ≤ q ≤ 97, q odd; n = 4 and q = 7, 8, 11, 13, 17; n = 5 and q = 5, 7, 8, 9; n = 6 and q = 4, 8. The bounds are obtained by computer search for new small complete arcs and caps. New upper bounds on the largest size m ₂(n, q) of a complete cap in PG(n, q) are given for q = 4, n = 5, 6, and q = 3, n = 7, 8, 9. The new lower bound 534 ≤ m ₂(8, 3) is obtained by finding a complete 534-cap in PG(8, 3). Many new sizes of complete arcs and caps are obtained. The updated tables of upper bounds for t ₂(n, q), n ≥ 2, and of the spectrum of known sizes for complete caps are given. Interesting complete caps in PG(3, q) of large size are described. A proof of the construction of complete caps in PG(3, 2 ^h ) announced in previous papers is given; this is modified from a construction of Segre. In PG(2, q), for q = 17, δ = 4, and q = 19, 27, δ = 3, we give complete ${(\frac{1}{2}(q + 3) + \delta)}$ -arcs other than conics that share ${\frac{1}{2}(q + 3)}$ points with an irreducible conic. It is shown that they are unique up to collineation. In PG(2, q), ${{q \equiv 2}}$ (mod 3) odd, we propose new constructions of ${\frac{1}{2} (q + 7)}$ -arcs and show that they are complete for q ≤ 3701.     

On a set of lines of PG(3, q) corresponding to a maximal cap contained in the Klein quadric of PG (5, q)

The problem is considered of constructing a maximal set of lines, with no three in a pencil, in the finite projective geometry PG(3, q) of three dimensions over GF(q). (A pencil is the set of q+1 lines in a plane and passing through a point.) It is found that an orbit of lines of a Singer cycle of PG(3, q) gives a set of size q ³ + q ² + q + 1 which is definitely maximal in the case of q odd. A (q ³ + q ² + q + 1)-cap contained in the hyperbolic (or Klein) quadric of PG(5, q) also comes from the construction. (A k-cap is a set of k points with no three in a line.) This is generalized to give direct constructions of caps in quadrics in PG(5, q). For q odd and greater than 3 these appear to be the largest caps known in PG(5, q). In particular it is shown how to construct directly a large cap contained in the Klein quadric, given an ovoid skew to an elliptic quadric of PG(3, q). Sometimes the cap is also contained in an elliptic quadric of PG(5, q) and this leads to a set of q ³ + q ² + q + 1 lines of PG(3,q ²) contained in the non-singular Hermitian surface such that no three lines pass through a point. These constructions can often be applied to real and complex spaces.     

Cyclic caps in PG(3,q)

This article investigates cyclic completek-caps in PG(3,q). Namely, the different types of completek-capsK in PG(3,q) stabilized by a cyclic projective groupG of orderk, acting regularly on the points ofK, are determined. We show that in PG(3,q),q even, the elliptic quadric is the only cyclic completek-cap. Forq odd, it is shown that besides the elliptic quadric, there also exist cyclick-caps containingk/2 points of two disjoint elliptic quadrics or two disjoint hyperbolic quadrics and that there exist cyclick-caps stabilized by a transitive cyclic groupG fixing precisely one point and one plane of PG(3,q). Concrete examples of such caps, found using AXIOM and CAYLEY, are presented.     

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 ).     

On linear sets on a projective line

Linear sets generalise the concept of subgeometries in a projective space. They have many applications in finite geometry. In this paper we address two problems for linear sets: the equivalence problem and the intersection problem. We consider linear sets as quotient geometries and determine the exact conditions for two linear sets to be equivalent. This is then used to determine in which cases all linear sets of rank 3 of the same size on a projective line are (projectively) equivalent. In (Donati and Durante, Des Codes Cryptogr, 46:261–267), the intersection problem for subgeometries of PG(n, q) is solved. The intersection of linear sets is much more difficult. We determine the intersection of a subline PG(1, q) with a linear set in PG(1, q ^h ) and investigate the existence of irregular sublines, contained in a linear set. We also derive an upper bound, which is sharp for odd q, on the size of the intersection of two different linear sets of rank 3 in PG(1, q ^h ).     

Tactical decompositions and orbits of projective groups

We consider decompositions of the incidence structure of points and lines of PG(n, q) (n?3) with equally many point and line classes. Such a decomposition, if line-tactical, must also be point-tactical. (This holds more generally in any 2-design.) We conjecture that such a tactical decomposition with more than one class has either a singleton point class, or just two point classes, one of which is a hyperplane. Using the previously mentioned result, we reduce the conjecture to the case n=3, and prove it when q²+q+1 is prime and for very small values of q. The truth of the conjecture would imply that an irreducible collineation group of PG(n, q) (n?3) with equally many point and line orbits is line-transitive (and hence known).     

On multiple caps in finite projective spaces

In this paper, we consider new results on (k, n)-caps with n > 2. We provide a lower bound on the size of such caps. Furthermore, we generalize two product constructions for (k, 2)-caps to caps with larger n. We give explicit constructions for good caps with small n. In particular, we determine the largest size of a (k, 3)-cap in PG(3, 5), which turns out to be 44. The results on caps in PG(3, 5) provide a solution to four of the eight open instances of the main coding theory problem for q = 5 and k = 4.     

On small blocking sets and their linearity

We prove that a small minimal blocking set of PG(2,q) is “very close” to be a linear blocking set over some subfield GF(pe)<GF(q). This implies that (i) a similar result holds in PG(n,q) for small minimal blocking sets with respect to k-dimensional subspaces (0?k?n) and (ii) most of the intervals in the interval-theorems of Sz?nyi and Sz?nyi-Weiner are empty.     

Small point sets of PG(n, q 3) intersecting each k-subspace in 1 mod q points

The main result of this paper is that point sets of PG(n, q ³), q = p ^h , p ≥ 7 prime, of size less than 3(q ^3(n?k) + 1)/2 intersecting each k-space in 1 modulo q points (these are always small minimal blocking sets with respect to k-spaces) are linear blocking sets. As a consequence, we get that minimal blocking sets of PG(n, p ³), p ≥ 7 prime, of size less than 3(p ^3(n?k) + 1)/2 with respect to k-spaces are linear. We also give a classification of small linear blocking sets of PG(n, q ³) which meet every (n ? 2)-space in 1 modulo q points.     

Some big sets of mutually disjoint subgeometries of PG(d, q t )

In PG(d, q ^t ) we construct a set ? of mutually disjoint subgeometries isomorphic to PG(d, q) almost partitioning the point set of PG(d, q ^t ) such that there is a group of collineations of PG(d, q ^t ) operating simultaneously as a Singer cycle on all elements of ?. In PG(t?1,q ^t ) we construct big subsets ? of ? whose elements are far away from each other in the following sense:

u

? If P ₁, P ₂ ∈ ? _k , then no point of P ₁ lies on ak-dimensional subspace of P ₂.

For example, we get a set ofq - 1 subplanes of orderq of PG(2,q ³) such that no point of one subplane lies on a line of another subplane, and such that no three points of three different subplanes are collinear.     

On Cyclic Caps in Projective Spaces

Let H be a subgroup of a cyclic Singer group of PG (n,q). In this paper we study the following problem: When is a point orbit of H a cap? A necessary and sufficient condition for this is derived and used to give a short proof of some results by Ebert [6] and to show that small orbits are typically caps.     

Caps in PG(n,q),q even,n⩾3

Letm′₂(3,q) be the largest value ofk(k<q ²+1) for which there exists a completek-cap in PG(3,q),q even. In this paper, the known upper bound onm′₂(3,q) is improved. We also describe a number of intervals, fork, for which there does not exist a completek-cap in PG(3,q),q even. These results are then used to improve the known upper bounds on the number of points of a cap in PG(n, q),q even,n?4.     

On the existence of bounded solutions for a nonlinear elliptic system

This work deals with the system (?Δ) ^m u?= a(x) v ^p , (?Δ) ^m v?=?b(x)?u ^q with Dirichlet boundary condition in a domain ${\Omega\subset\mathbb{R}^n}$ , where Ω is a ball if n ≥ 3 or a smooth perturbation of a ball when n?=?2. We prove that, under appropriate conditions on the parameters (a, b, p, q, m, n), any nonnegative solution (u, v) of the system is bounded by a constant independent of (u, v). Moreover, we prove that the conditions are sharp in the sense that, up to some border case, the relation on the parameters are also necessary. The case m?=?1 was considered by Souplet (Nonlinear Partial Differ Equ Appl 20:464–479, 2004). Our paper generalize to m ≥ 1 the results of that paper.     

Caps with free pairs of points

We say that two points x, y of a cap C form a free pair of points if any plane containing x and y intersects C in at most three points. For given N and q, we denote by m₂⁺ (N, q) the maximum number of points in a cap of PG(N, q) that contains at least one free pair of points. It is straightforward to prove that m₂⁺ (N, q) ≤ (q^N-1 + 2q − 3)/(q − 1), and it is known that this bound is sharp for q = 2 and all N. We use geometric constructions to prove that this bound is sharp for all q when N ≤ 4. We briefly survey the motivation for constructions of caps with free pairs of points which comes from the area of statistical experimental design. Research supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and MITACS NCE of Canada.     

Caps Embedded in Grassmannians

This paper is concerned with constructing caps embedded in line Grassmannians. In particular, we construct a cap of size q³ +2q²+1 embedded in the Klein quadric of PG(5,q) for even q, and show that any cap maximally embedded in the Klein quadric which is larger than this one must have size equal to the theoretical upper bound, namely q³+2q²+q+2. It is not known if caps achieving this upper bound exist for even q > 2.     

The embedding of (0, α)-geometries in PG(n, q): part II

In Part I we obtained results about the embedding of (0, α)-geometries in PG(3, q). Here we determine all (0, α)-geometries with q+1 points on a line, which are embedded in PG(n, q), n>3 and q>2. As a particular case all semi partial geometries with parameters s=q,t,α(>1),μ, which are embeddable in PG(n, q), q≠2, are obtained. We also prove some theorems about the embedding of (0, 2)-geometries in PG(n, 2): we show that without loss of generality we may restrict ourselves to reduced (0, 2)-geometries, we determine all (0, 2)-geometries in PG(4, 2), and we describe an unusual embedding of U_2,3(9) in PG(5, 2).     

The asymptotic number of labeled connected graphs with a given number of vertices and edges

Let c(n, q) be the number of connected labeled graphs with n vertices and q ≤ N = (2n ) edges. Let x = q/n and k = q ? n. We determine functions w_k ? 1. a(x) and φ(x) such that c(n, q) ? w_k(q^N)eⁿφ(x)+a(x) uniformly for all n and q ≥ n. If ? > 0 is fixed, n→ ∞ and 4q > (1 + ?)n log n, this formula simplifies to c(n, q) ? (N^q) exp(–ne^?2q/n). on the other hand, if k = o(n^1/2), this formula simplifies to c(n, n + k) ? 1/2 w_k (3/π)^1/2 (e/12k)^k/2nⁿ?^(3k?1)/2.     

Nilpotent and invertible values in semiprime rings with generalized derivations

Let R be a semiprime ring and F be a generalized derivation of R and n??? 1 a fixed integer. In this paper we prove the following: (1) If (F(xy) ? yx) ⁿ is either zero or invertible for all ${x,y\in R}$ , then there exists a division ring D such that either R?=?D or R?=?M ₂(D), the 2?× 2 matrix ring. (2) If R is a prime ring and I is a nonzero right ideal of R such that (F(xy) ? yx) ⁿ ?=?0 for all ${x,y \in I}$ , then [I, I]I?=?0, F(x)?=?ax?+?xb for ${a,b\in R}$ and there exist ${\alpha, \beta \in C}$ , the extended centroid of R, such that (a ? ??)I?=?0 and (b ? ??)I?=?0, moreover ((a?+?b)x ? x)I?=?0 for all ${x\in I}$ .