On large minimal blocking sets in PG(2,q)

The size of large minimal blocking sets is bounded by the Bruen–Thas upper bound. The bound is sharp when q is a square. Here the bound is improved if q is a non‐square. On the other hand, we present some constructions of reasonably large minimal blocking sets in planes of non‐prime order. The construction can be regarded as a generalization of Buekenhout's construction of unitals. For example, if q is a cube, then our construction gives minimal blocking sets of size q^4/3 + 1 or q^4/3 + 2. Density results for the spectrum of minimal blocking sets in Galois planes of non‐prime order is also presented. The most attractive case is when q is a square, where we show that there is a minimal blocking set for any size from the interval . © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Combin Designs 13: 25–41, 2005.     

Multiple Blocking Sets in PG(n, q), n > 3

This article discusses minimal s-fold blocking sets B in PG (n, q), q = p^h, p prime, q > 661, n > 3, of size |B| > sq + c ^p q ^2/3 - (s - 1) (s - 2)/2 (s > min (c ^p q ^1/6, q ^1/4/2)). It is shown that these s-fold blocking sets contain the disjoint union of a collection of s lines and/or Baer subplanes. To obtain these results, we extend results of Blokhuis–Storme–Szönyi on s-fold blocking sets in PG(2, q) to s-fold blocking sets having points to which a multiplicity is given. Then the results in PG(n, q), n 3, are obtained using projection arguments. The results of this article also improve results of Hamada and Helleseth on codes meeting the Griesmer bound.     

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     

Two Remarks on Blocking Sets and Nuclei in Planes of Prime Order

In this paper we characterize a sporadic non-Rédei Type blocking set of PG(2,7) having minimum cardinality, and derive an upper bound for the number of nuclei of sets in PG(2,q) having less than q+1 points. Our methods involve polynomials over finite fields, and work mainly for planes of prime order.     

Unitals and inversive planes

We show that if U is a Buekenhout-Metz unital (with respect to a point P) in any translation plane of order q ² with kernel containing GF(q), then U has an associated 2-(q²,q+1,q) design which is the point-residual of an inversive plane, generalizing results of Wilbrink, Baker and Ebert. Further, our proof gives a natural, geometric isomorphism between the resulting inversive plane and the (egglike) inversive plane arising from the ovoid involved in the construction of the Buekenhout-Metz unital. We apply our results to investigate some parallel classes and partitions of the set of blocks of any Buekenhout-Metz unital.     

On 1-Blocking Sets in PG(n,q), n ≥ 3

In this article we study minimal1-blocking sets in finite projective spaces _PG(n,q),n 3. We prove that in PG(n,q ²),q = p ^h , p prime, p > 3,h 1, the second smallest minimal 1-blockingsets are the second smallest minimal blocking sets, w.r.t.lines, in a plane of PG(n,q ²). We also study minimal1-blocking sets in PG(n,q ³), n 3, q = p ^h, p prime, p > 3,q 5, and prove that the minimal 1-blockingsets of cardinality at most q 3 + q ² + q + ¹ are eithera minimal blocking set in a plane or a subgeometry PG(3,q).     

Note on the existence of large minimal blocking sets in galois planes

A subsetS of a finite projective plane of orderq is called a blocking set ifS meets every line but contains no line. For the size of an inclusion-minimal blocking setq+ +Sq +1 holds ([6]). Ifq is a square, then inPG(2,q) there are minimal blocking sets with cardinalityq +1. Ifq is not a square, then the various constructions known to the author yield minimal blocking sets with less than 3q points. In the present note we show that inPG(2,q),q1 (mod 4) there are minimal blocking sets having more thanqlog₂ q/2 points. The blocking sets constructed in this note contain the union ofk conics, whereklog₂ q/2. A slight modification of the construction works forq3 (mod 4) and gives the existence of minimal blocking sets of sizecqlog₂ q for some constantc.As a by-product we construct minimal blocking sets of cardinalityq +1, i.e. unitals, in Galois planes of square order. Since these unitals can be obtained as the union of parabolas, they are not classical.     

Normal Spreads

In Dedicata 16 (1984), pp. 291–313, the representation of Desarguesian spreads of the projective space PG(2t – 1, q) into the Grassmannian of the subspaces of rank t of PG(2t – 1, q) has been studied. Using a similar idea, we prove here that a normal spread of PG(rt – 1,q) is represented on the Grassmannian of the subspaces of rank t of PG(rt – 1, q) by a cap V _{r, t} of PG(r ^t – 1, q), which is the GF(q)-scroll of a Segre variety product of t projective spaces of dimension (r – 1), and that the collineation group of PG(r ^t – 1, q) stabilizing V _{r, t} acts 2-transitively on V _{r, t} . In particular, we prove that V _{3, 2} is the union of q ² – q + 1 disjoint Veronese surfaces, and that a Hermitan curve of PG(2, q ²) is represented by a hyperplane section U of V _{3, 2}. For q 0,2 (mod 3) the algebraic variety U is the unitary ovoid of the hyperbolic quadric Q ⁺ (7, q) constructed by W. M. Kantor in Canad. J. Math., 5 (1982), 1195–1207. Finally we study a class of blocking sets, called linear, proving that many of the known examples of blocking sets are of this type, and we construct an example in PG(3, q ²). Moreover, a new example of minimal blocking set of the Desarguesian projective plane, which is linear, has been constructed by P. Polito and O. Polverino.     

A Bose-Burton Theorem for Elliptic Polar Spaces

In bose&burton, Bose and Burton determined the smallest point sets of PG(d, q) that meet every subspace of PG(d, q) of a given dimension c. In this paper an equivalent result for quadrics of elliptic type is obtained. It states the folloing. For 0 c n - 1 the smallest point set of the elliptic quadric Q ^-(2n + 1, q) that meets every singular subspace of dimension c of Q ^-(2n + 1, q) has cardinality (q ⁿ⁺¹ + q ^c )(q ^n-c - 1)/(q - 1). Furthermore, the point sets of the smallest cardinality are classified.     

Configurations of weighted circles in finite inversive planes

A weighted configurationW of circles in I(n), a finite inversive plane of ordern, is an incidence structure in I(n) whose blocks are circles, to each of which is assigned a positive integer called itsweight. W must satisfy the condition that the sum of the weights of the circles meeting at any point must ben + 1. Some properties ofW, particularly whenI(n) is the Miquelian plane M(q), are developed. It is shown that any spreadS in PG(3,q) induces weighted configurations {W(S)} in M(q), calledspecial. Thus properties ofS may be derived from properties ofThis research was supported by NSERC Grant No. A4827 (Canada). The paper was written while the author held a visiting apointment at Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina.     

Upper Bounds on the Covering Number of Galois-Planes with Small Order

Our paper deals with the covering number of finite projective planes which is related to an unsolved question of P. Erdös. An integer linear programming (ILP) formulation of the covering number of finite projective planes is introduced for projective planes of given orders. The mathematical programming based approach for this problem is new in the area of finite projective planes. Since the ILP problem is NP-hard and may involve up to 360.000 boolean variables for the considered problems, we propose a heuristic based on Simulated Annealing. The computational study gives a new insight into the structure of projective planes and their (minimal) blocking sets. This computational study indicates that the current theoretical results may be improved.     

Blocking structures in finite projective planes

Exploring the classical Ceva configuration in a Desarguesian projective plane, we construct two families of minimal blocking sets as well as a new family of blocking semiovals in PG(2, 3^2h). Also, we show that these blocking sets of PG(2, q²), regarded as pointsets of the derived André plane , are still minimal blocking sets in . Furthermore, we prove that the new family of blocking semiovals in PG(2, 3^2h) gives rise to a family of blocking semiovals in the André plane as well.     

A spectrum result on minimal blocking sets with respect to the planes of PG(3, q), q odd

This article presents a spectrum result on minimal blocking sets with respect to the planes of PG(3, q), q odd. We prove that for every integer k in an interval of, roughly, size [q ²/4, 3q ²/4], there exists such a minimal blocking set of size k in PG(3, q), q odd. A similar result on the spectrum of minimal blocking sets with respect to the planes of PG(3, q), q even, was presented in Rößing and Storme (Eur J Combin 31:349–361, 2010). Since minimal blocking sets with respect to the planes in PG(3, q) are tangency sets, they define maximal partial 1-systems on the Klein quadric Q ⁺(5, q), so we get the same spectrum result for maximal partial 1-systems of lines on the Klein quadric Q ⁺(5, q), q odd.     

New examples of Cantor sets in <Emphasis Type="Italic">S</Emphasis><Superscript>1</Superscript> that are not <Emphasis Type="Italic">C</Emphasis><Superscript>1</Superscript>-minimal

Although every Cantor subset of the circle (S¹) is the minimal set of some homeomorphism of S¹, not every such set is minimal for a C¹ diffeomorphism of S¹. In this work, we construct new examples of Cantor sets in S¹ that are not minimal for any C¹-diffeomorphim of S¹.     

A Bose‐Burton type theorem for quadrics

Let Q be a non‐degenerate quadric defined by a quadratic form in the finite projective space PG(d,q). Let r be the dimension of the generators of Q. For all k with 2 ≤ k < r we determine the smallest cardinality of a set B of points with the property that every subspace of dimension k that is contained in Q meets B. It turns out that the smallest examples consist of the non‐singular points of quadrics S ∩ Q for suitable subspaces S of codimension k of PG(d,q). For k = 1, the same result was known before. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Combin Designs 11: 317–338, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/jcd.10051     

Minimal Blocking Sets in PG(2, 8) and Maximal Partial Spreads in PG(3, 8)

We prove that PG(2, 8) does not contain minimal blocking sets of size 14. Using this result we prove that 58 is the largest size for a maximal partial spread of PG(3, 8). This supports the conjecture that q ²–q+ 2 is the largest size for a maximal partial spread of PG(3, q), q>7.     

Scattered Spaces with Respect to a Spread in PG(n,q)

A scattered subspace of PG(n-1,q) with respect to a (t-1)-spread S is a subspace intersecting every spread element in at most a point. Upper and lower bounds for the dimension of a maximum scattered space are given. In the case of a normal spread new classes of two intersection sets with respect to hyperplanes in a projective space are obtained using scattered spaces.     

Blocking Structures of Hermitian Varieties

Given a hermitian variety H(d,q²) and an integer k (d–1)/2, a blocking set with respect to k-subspaces is a set of points of H(d,q²) that meets all k-subspaces of H(d,q²). If H(d,q²) is naturally embedded in PG(d,q²), then linear examples for such a blocking set are the ones that lie in a subspace of codimension k of PG(d,q²). Up to isomorphism there are k+1 non-isomorphic minimal linear blocking sets, and these have different cardinalities. In this paper it is shown for 1 k< (d–1)/2 that all sufficiently small minimal blocking sets of H(d,q²) with respect to k-subspaces are linear. For 1 k< d/2–3, it is even proved that the k+1 minimal linear blocking sets are smaller than all minimal non-linear ones.AMS Classification: 1991 MSC: 51E20, 51E21     

A non‐existence result on Cameron–Liebler line classes

Cameron–Liebler line classes are sets of lines in PG(3, q) that contain a fixed number x of lines of every spread. Cameron and Liebler classified Cameron–Liebler line classes for x ∈ {0, 1, 2, q² ? 1, q², q² + 1} and conjectured that no others exist. This conjecture was disproven by Drudge for q = 3 [8] and his counterexample was generalized to a counterexample for any odd q by Bruen and Drudge [4]. A counterexample for q even was found by Govaerts and Penttila [9]. Non‐existence results on Cameron–Liebler line classes were found for different values of x. In this article, we improve the non‐existence results on Cameron–Liebler line classes of Govaerts and Storme [11], for q not a prime. We prove the non‐existence of Cameron–Liebler line classes for 3 ≤ x < q/2. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Combin Designs 16: 342–349, 2008     

On the number of pairwise non-isomorphic minimal blocking sets in PG(2, q)

In this paper we examine whether the number of pairwise non-isomorphic minimal blocking sets in PG(2, q) of a certain size is larger than polynomial. Our main result is that there are more than polynomial pairwise non-isomorphic minimal blocking sets for any size in the intervals [2q−1, 3q−4] for q odd and for q square. We can also prove a similar result for certain values of the intervals and .