Related papers: Groups with maximal irredundant covers and minimal…

A resolving set for a graph $G$ is a set of vertices $Q = \{q_1, ..., q_k\}$ such that, for all $p\in V(G)$ the $k$-tuple $(d(p, q_1), ..., d(p, q_k ))$ uniquely determines $p$, where $d(p, q_i)$ is considered as the minimum length of a…

A generating set for a finite group $G$ is said to be minimal if no proper subset generates $G$, and $m(G)$ denotes the maximal size of a minimal generating set for $G$. We prove a conjecture of Lucchini, Moscatiello and Spiga by showing…

For a given subset $A\subseteq \mathbb F_q^*$, we study the problem of finding a large packing set $B$ of $A$, that is, a set $B \subseteq \mathbb F_q^*$ such that $|AB|=|A||B|$. We prove the existence of such a $B$ of size $|B|\ge…

The equivalence problem of $\mathbb{F}_q$-linear sets of rank n of $PG(1,q^n)$ is investigated, also in terms of the associated variety, projecting configurations, $\mathbb{F}_q$-linear blocking sets of R\'edei type and MRD-codes.

In this work complete caps in $PG(N,q)$ of size $O(q^{\frac{N-1}{2}}\log^{300} q)$ are obtained by probabilistic methods. This gives an upper bound asymptotically very close to the trivial lower bound $\sqrt{2}q^{\frac{N-1}{2}}$ and it…

In this paper we present and analyze computational results concerning small complete caps in the projective spaces $\mathrm{PG}(N,q)$ of dimension $N=3$ and $N=4$ over the finite field of order $q$. The results have been obtained using…

Given an algebra $F[H]^G$ of polynomial invariants of an action of the group $G$ over the vector space $H$, a subset $S$ of $F[H]^G$ is called separating if $S$ separates all orbits that can be separated by $F[H]^G$. A minimal separating…

In this work we find new minimum sizes for the maximal partial spreads of PG$(3,q)$, for $q=8,9,16$ and for every $q$ such that $25\leq q\leq 101$. Furthermore, for $q=8,9,16,25$ and 27 we find all the unknown sizes between our minimums and…

In a projective plane $\Pi _{q}$ (not necessarily Desarguesian) of order $q,$ a point subset $S$ is saturating (or dense) if any point of $\Pi _{q}\setminus S$ is collinear with two points in$~S$. Using probabilistic methods, the following…

Let $\mathrm{PG}(3,q)$ be the projective space of dimension three over the finite field with $q$ elements. Consider a twisted cubic in $\mathrm{PG}(3,q)$. The structure of the point-plane incidence matrix in $\mathrm{PG}(3,q)$ with respect…

For a prime power $q$ and a positive integer $n$, we say a subspace $U$ of ${\mathbb{F}_q^n}$ is {\em cyclically covering} if the union of the cyclic shifts of $U$ is equal to $\mathbb{F}_q^n$. We investigate the problem of determining the…

Finding the maximum number of maximal independent sets in an $n$-vertex graph $G$, $i(G)$, from a restricted class is an extensively studied problem. Let $kK_2$ denote the matching of size $k$, that is a graph with $2k$ vertices and $k$…

This paper studies problems related to visibility among points in the plane. A point $x$ \emph{blocks} two points $v$ and $w$ if $x$ is in the interior of the line segment $\bar{vw}$. A set of points $P$ is \emph{$k$-blocked} if each point…

We define a triangle design as a partition of the set of lines of a projective space into triangles, where a triangle consists of three pairwise intersecting lines with no common point. A triangle design is balanced if all points are…

We give an explicit characterization of all minimal value set polynomials in $\F_q[x]$ whose set of values is a subfield $\F_{q'}$ of $\F_{q}$. We show that the set of such polynomials, together with the constants of $\F_{q'}$, is an…

Let $\F_q^n$ be a vector space of dimension $n$ over the finite field $\F_q$. A $q$-analog of a Steiner system (briefly, a $q$-Steiner system), denoted $S_q[t,k,n]$, is a set $S$ of $k$-dimensional subspaces of $\F_q^n$ such that each…

Let $n,q,t,s,p$ be non-negative integers where $n\geq s$ and $q\geq 1$. For $\mathbf{x}\in A_{q}^{n}\triangleq\{ 0,1,\ldots,q-1 \}^{n}$, let the $t$-insertion $s$-deletion $p$-substitution ball of $\mathbf{x}$, denoted by…

We describe a new construction of a subset of P^4 with no four points on a plane over any finite field of order q in which 3 is not a square. This set has size 2q + 1, is maximal with respect to inclusion, and is the largest known such set.

We prove that if $G$ is an abelian group and $H_1x_1,\dots,H_{k}x_k$ is an irredundant (minimal) cover of $G$ with cosets, then $$|G:\bigcap_{i=1}^{k}H_{i}|=2^{O(k)}.$$ This bound is the best possible up to the constant hidden in the…

Let $G$ be a finite group and let $\mathcal{M}$ be a set of maximal subgroups of $G$. We say that $\mathcal{M}$ is irredundant if the intersection of the subgroups in $\mathcal{M}$ is not equal to the intersection of any proper subset. The…