Related papers: Avoiding secants of given size in finite projectiv…

The big-line-big-clique conjecture states that for all $k,\ell\geq2$ there is an integer $n$ such that every finite set of at least $n$ points in the plane contains $\ell$ collinear points or $k$ pairwise visible points. We show that this…

We give upper bounds on the number of exceptional radial projections of arbitrary subsets of vector spaces over finite fields. Our bounds do not depend on the dimension of the ambient space. Let $\mathbb{F}_q^d$ be the $d$-dimensional…

We isolate conditions on the relative size of sets of natural numbers $A,B$ that guarantee a nonempty intersection $\Delta(A)\cap\Delta(B)\ne\emptyset$ of the corresponding sets of distances. Such conditions apply to a large class of zero…

Let A be a pre-defined set of rational numbers. We say a set of natural numbers S is an A-quotient-free set if no ratio of two elements in S belongs to A. We find the maximal asymptotic density and the maximal upper asymptotic density of…

Following a combinatorial observation made by one of us recently in relation to a problem in quantum information [Nakata et al., Phys. Rev. X 7:021006 (2017)], we study what are the possible intersection cardinalities of a $k$-dimensional…

We study the rationality of the intersection points of certain lines and smooth plane quartics C defined over F_q. For q \geq 127, we prove the existence of a line such that the intersection points with C are all rational. Using another…

In a projective plane $\Pi_q$ of order $q$, a non-empty point set ${\cal S}_t$ is a $t$-semiarc if the number of tangent lines to ${\cal S}_t$ at each of its points is $t$. If ${\cal S}_t$ is a $t$-semiarc in $\Pi_q$, $t<q$, then each line…

We study families of linear spaces in projective space whose union is a proper subvariety X of the expected dimension. We establish relations between configurations of focal points and existence or non-existence of a fixed tangent space to…

Given a hereditarily meager ideal $\mathcal{I}$ on a countable set $X$ we use Martin's axiom for countable posets to produce a zero-dimensional maximal topology $\tau^\mathcal{I}$ on $X$ such that $\tau^\mathcal{I}\cap…

We study combinatorial configurations with the associated point and line graphs being strongly regular. Examples not belonging to known classes such as partial geometries and their generalizations or elliptic semiplanes are constructed.…

In this paper we present the results from a program developed by the author that finds the unitals of the known 193 projective planes of order 25.. There are several planes for which we have not found any unital. One or more than one…

In the recent work \cite{shi18}, a combinatorial problem concerning linear codes over a finite field $\F_q$ was introduced. In that work the authors studied the weight set of an $[n,k]_q$ linear code, that is the set of non-zero distinct…

Call a curve $C \subset \mathbb{P}^2$ defined over $\mathbb{F}_q$ transverse-free if every line over $\mathbb{F}_q$ intersects $C$ at some closed point with multiplicity at least 2. In 2004, Poonen used a notion of density to treat Bertini…

Let $d,m_1,...,m_r$ be ($r+1$) positive integers, and $P_1,...,P_r$ be $r$ general points in the projective plane ; let $m$ be a positive integer. We prove that there exists a bound $d_0(m)$ such that : If $m_i < m$ ($0<i<r+1$), and $d >…

Let $S$ be a smooth projective surface over $\mathbb{C}$. We study the local and global geometry of the nested Hilbert scheme of points $S^{[n,n+1,n+2]}$. In particular, we show that $S^{[n,n+1,n+2]}$ is an irreducible local complete…

Let $Q$ be a finite set of points in the plane. For any set $P$ of points in the plane, $S_{Q}(P)$ denotes the number of similar copies of $Q$ contained in $P$. For a fixed $n$, Erd\H{o}s and Purdy asked to determine the maximum possible…

S.Janson [Poset limits and exchangeable random posets, Combinatorica 31 (2011), 529--563] defined limits of finite posets in parallel to the emerging theory of limits of dense graphs. We prove that each poset limit can be represented as a…

Bennett, Hart, Iosevich, Pakianathan, and Rudnev found an exponent $s<d$ such that any set $E\subset \mathbb{F}_q^d$ with $|E|\gtrsim q^s$ determines $\gtrsim q^{\binom{k+1}{2}}$ congruence classes of $(k+1)$-point configurations for $k\leq…

A smooth geometrically connected curve over the finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$ with gonality $\gamma$ has at most ${\gamma(q+1)}$ rational points. The first author and Grantham conjectured that there exist curves of every sufficiently large…

We consider the following problem: Given a set $S$ of $n$ distinct points in the plane, how many edge-disjoint plane straight-line spanning paths can be drawn on $S$? Each spanning path must be crossing-free, but edges from different paths…