Related papers: On the linearity of higher-dimensional blocking se…

In this paper we give some basic results on blocking sets on minimum size for a finite chain geometry.

Minimal linear codes are algebraic objects which gained interest in the last twenty years, due to their link with Massey's secret sharing schemes. In this context, Ashikhmin and Barg provided a useful and a quite easy to handle sufficient…

In this paper, we study the p-ary linear code C(PG(n, q)), q = p^h, p prime, h >= 1, generated by the incidence matrix of points and hyperplanes of a Desarguesian projective space PG(n, q), and its dual code. We link the codewords of small…

A blocking semioval is a set of points in a projective plane that is both a blocking set (i.e., every line meets the set, but the set contains no line) and a semioval (i.e., there is a unique tangent line at each point). The smallest size…

Let Ck(n, q) be the p-ary linear code defined by the incidence matrix of points and k-spaces in PG(n, q), q = p^h, p prime, h >= 1. In this pa- per, we show that there are no codewords of weight in the open interval ] q^{k+1}-1/q-1, 2q^k[…

Let $V$ denote an $r$-dimensional $\mathbb{F}_{q^n}$-vector space. For an $m$-dimensional $\mathbb{F}_q$-subspace $U$ of $V$ assume that $\dim_q \left(\langle {\bf v}\rangle_{\mathbb{F}_{q^n}} \cap U\right) \geq 2$ for each non zero vector…

We prove new upper bounds on the smallest size of affine blocking sets, that is, sets of points in a finite affine space that intersect every affine subspace of a fixed codimension. We show an equivalence between affine blocking sets with…

A set without tangents in $\PG(2,q)$ is a set of points S such that no line meets S in exactly one point. An exterior set of a conic $\mathcal{C}$ is a set of points $\E$ such that all secant lines of $\E$ are external lines of…

Let $\mathrm{PG}(3, q)$ denote the three-dimensional projective space over the finite field with $q$ elements. A line-spread of $\mathrm{PG}(3, q)$ is a collection $\mathcal{S}$ of mutually skew lines such that every point of…

In this paper we provide a generalization of the MPS construction of blocking sets of $PG(r,q^n)$ using subspaces of dimension $s\leq n-2$. By this construction, we determine a new non-planar example in $PG(3,q^6)$.

We prove that if a subset of $(\mathbb{F}_q^n)^k$ (with $q$ an odd prime power) avoids a full-rank three-point pattern $\vec{x},\vec{x}+M_1\vec{d},\vec{x}+M_2\vec{d}$ then it is exponentially small, having size at most $3 \cdot c_q^{nk}$…

All sets of lines providing a partition of the set of internal points to a conic C in PG(2,q), q odd, are determined. There exist only three such linesets up to projectivities, namely the set of all nontangent lines to C through an external…

The blocking number of a manifold is the minimal number of points needed to block out lights between any two given points in the manifold. It has been conjectured that if the blocking number of a manifold is finite, then the manifold must…

Given two distinct point sets $P$ and $Q$ in the plane, we say that $Q$ \emph{blocks} $P$ if no two points of $P$ are adjacent in any Delaunay triangulation of $P\cup Q$. Aichholzer et al. (2013) showed that any set $P$ of $n$ points in…

In [2] and [19] are presented the first two families of maximum scattered $\mathbb{F}_q$-linear sets of the projective line $\mathrm{PG}(1,q^n)$. More recently in [23] and in [5], new examples of maximum scattered $\mathbb{F}_q$-subspaces…

We characterise the minimum weight codewords of the $p$-ary linear code of intersecting lines in ${\rm PG}(3,q)$, $q=p^h$, $q\geq19$, $p$ prime, $h\geq 1$. If $q$ is even, the minimum weight equals $q^3+q^2+q+1$. If $q$ is odd, the minimum…

In this paper, we resolve a conjecture of Green and Liebeck [Disc. Math., 343 (8):117119, 2019] on codes in $PGL(2,q)$. To be specific, we show that: if $D$ is a dihedral subgroup of order $2(q+1)$ in $G=PGL(2,q)$, and $A=\{g\in G: g^{q+1}=…

We show that the metric dimension of a finite projective plane of order $q\geq 23$ is $4q-4$, and describe all resolving sets of that size. Let $\tau_2$ denote the size of the smallest double blocking set in $\mathrm{PG}(2,q)$, the…

New results on pentagonal geometries PENT(k,r) with block sizes k = 3 or k = 4 are given. In particular we completely determine the existence spectra for PENT(3,r) systems with the maximum number of opposite line pairs as well as those…

A strong $s$-blocking set in a projective space is a set of points that intersects each codimension-$s$ subspace in a spanning set of the subspace. We present an explicit construction of such sets in a $(k - 1)$-dimensional projective space…