English

The probability of spanning a classical space by two non-degenerate subspaces of complementary dimension

Group Theory 2022-05-17 v3 Combinatorics

Abstract

Let n,nn,n' be positive integers and let VV be an (n+n)(n+n')-dimensional vector space over a finite field F\mathbb{F} equipped with a non-degenerate alternating, hermitian or quadratic form. We estimate the proportion of pairs (U,U)(U, U'), where UU is a non-degenerate nn-subspace and UU' is a non-degenerate nn'-subspace of VV, such that U+U=VU+ U'=V (usually such spaces UU and UU' are not perpendicular). The proportion is shown to be at least 1c/F1-c/|\mathbb{F}| for some constant c2c\leqslant 2 in the symplectic or unitary cases, and c<3c<3 in the orthogonal case.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2109.10015,
  title  = {The probability of spanning a classical space by two non-degenerate subspaces of complementary dimension},
  author = {S. P. Glasby and Alice C. Niemeyer and Cheryl E. Praeger},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2109.10015},
  year   = {2022}
}

Comments

35 pages, 5 tables, hyperlinks and backrefs. Changed 1/(2F) to 3/(2F) and added reference