Questions tagged [finite-geometry]
Galois geometry, finite projective and affine spaces, polar spaces, partial geometries, generalized polygons, near polygons, and other finite incidence geometries.
65 questions
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Projective Plane of Order 12
I asked this question on the new Theoretical Computer Science "overflow" site, and commenters suggested I ask it here. That question is here, and it contains additional links, which I doubt I can ...
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2
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How close can one get to the missing finite projective planes?
This question can be interpreted as an instance of the Zarankiewicz problem. Suppose we have an $n\times n$ matrix with entries in $\{0,1\}$ with no $\begin{pmatrix}1 & 1\\ 1& 1\end{pmatrix} $ ...
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1
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Geometric interpretation of the exceptional isomorphism $PSp(4,3)=PSU(4,2^2)$
It is well-known that there is an isomorphism between $PSp(4,3)$ (the symplectic group of dimension $4$ over $\mathbb F_3$) and $PSU(4,2^2)$ (the unitary group defined by $4\times4$ unitary matrices ...
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How do I see the equality $57 = 3 \times 19$ geometrically?
Consider the finite field ${\bf F}_p$ and its cubic extension ${\bf F}_{p^3}$. The multiplicative group ${\bf G}_m({\bf F}_{p^3})$ contains the multiplicative group ${\bf G}_m({\bf F}_p) \cong {\bf Z}/...
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What is the smallest cardinality of a self-linked set in a finite cyclic group?
A subset $A$ of a group $G$ is defined to be self-linked if $A\cap gA\ne\emptyset$ for all $g\in G$. This happens if and only if $AA^{-1}=G$.
For a finite group $G$ denote by $sl(G)$ the smallest ...
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14
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0
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Who conjectured that a transitive projective plane is Desarguesian?
The only known finite projective plane with a transitive automorphism group is the Desarguesian plane $PG(2,q)$ and it seems likely that there are no others, although this is not (quite) proved.
...
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The exceptional isomorphism between PGL(3,2) and PSL(2,7): geometric origin?
It is well-known there is an isomorphism between $GL(3,2)=PGL(3,2)$, the automorphism group of the Fano plane (i.e. the projective plane over the finite field with two elements), and $PSL(2,7)$, which ...
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13
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1
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Status of the basis exchange condition for symplectic matroids
Let $J_n := \{1,2,3,\ldots,n,1^*,2^*,\ldots,n^*\}$ with the involution $x\mapsto x^*$ exchanging $i$ and $i^*$ for $1\leq i\leq n$. The following is supposed to be standard, but to avoid any doubt as ...
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2
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Who constructed the projective plane of order $4$ from $K_6$?
I have been trying to hunt down the original reference for the construction of the projective plane of order $4$ from the complete graph on $6$ vertices.
The reference I have at hand are Cameron and ...
- 1,418
11
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Does every $C_4$-free bipartite graph lies in some finite projective plane?
A projective plane $Π$ is a 3-tuple $(P,L,I)$ where $P$ and $L$ are sets, and $I$ is a relation between $P$ and $L$, such that:
For every two elements $p_1$, $p_2\in P$, there exists a unique ...
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2
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Blocking sets in three dimensional finite affine spaces
What is the smallest possible size of a set of points in $\mathbb{F}_q^3$ which intersects (blocks) every line?
Clearly the union of three affine hyperplanes that intersect in a singleton, say $x = 0,...
- 1,197
11
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1
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Is there a well-known notion of orientability for finite geometries?
I'm wondering if the notion of an orientable/non-orientable manifold has any reasonable extension that allows for a similar classification of finite geometries.
For example, the real projective plane ...
- 1,389
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How many rich directions does a set in $\mathbb F_p^2$ determine?
$\newcommand{\F}{\mathbb F}$
A subset $P$ of the affine plane $\F_p^2$ is said to determine a direction if there is a line in this direction containing at least two points of $P$.
A set of size $|P|&...
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10
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Subplanes of Finite Projective Planes
If a finite projective plane $\pi_1$ of order $m$ contains, as a sub plane, a
finite projective plane $\pi_2$ of order $n$, then $m \geq n^2$ with equality holding only in the case of a Baer sub plane....
- 349
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2
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Is there a hyperplane avoiding two independent sets?
Let $V$ be a vector space over a field with $5$ elements, $A,B \subseteq V$ independent subsets. Must there be a subspace of $V$ of codimension 1 disjoint from $A \cup B$?
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Moore graphs and finite projective geometry
In a comment on a blog post from 2009 about the hypothetical Moore graph(s) of degree 57 and girth 5, Gordon Royle offered the following observation (reproduced here in full for the sake of ...
- 1,645
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1
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Are bipartite Moore graphs Hamiltonian?
This is motivated by a computer-generated conjecture that bipartite distance-regular graphs are hamiltonian. I decided to check the case of Moore graphs first.
The cycles and complete bipartite graphs ...
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Almost blocking sets in $\mathbb F_q^2$
$\newcommand{\F}{{\mathbb F}}$
Let $q$ be an odd prime power. A blocking set in the affine plane $\F_q^2$ is a set blocking (meeting) every line.
A union of two non-parallel lines is a blocking set ...
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8
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The Maximum Number of Lines Contained in the Point Set of a Finite Projective Plane
Consider a finite projective plane of order $q$. Define $f(m)$ to be the maximum number of lines completely contained in any point set of size $m$, where $1 \leq m \leq q^2+q+1$. I would like to ...
user48028
7
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Largest number of points one can pick in finite projective space without getting three on a line
Consider the projectivization $\mathbb P\mathbb F_p^n$ of $\mathbb F_p^n$. How large a set $B \subseteq \mathbb P \mathbb F_p^n$ can I pick so that no three points of $B$ lie on the same line?
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Large gaps in Singer's difference sets
This question is related to the question I asked earlier.
For a natural number $n$, a set $D$ of integer numbers is called a $n$-cyclic difference set if each integer number $x\notin n\mathbb Z$ can ...
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Arrangement of subspaces over finite fields
I'm trying to find out what is already known about the following setup.
Let $V$ be an $n$-dimensional vector space over a finite field $F_q$ (I'm mostly interested in the case where $q$ is prime), and ...
- 1,062
6
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2
answers
992
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On the joints problem in finite fields
The original version of the so-called "joints problem" consists of the following:
Let $L$ be a set of lines in $\mathbb{R}^{3}$. Determine the maximum number of "joints" determined by these lines, ...
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1
answer
303
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Maximum number of elements in union of subspaces
Let $V$ be a $m$-dimensional vector space over $\mathbb{F}_q$ and $1<\ell<m-1$. Let $r$ be a positive integer such that $r\ell\leq m$.
QUESTION. What is the maximum number of elements in the ...
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1
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Covering the finite plane with lines
This is, essentially, a geometrically rendered version of the question I asked a week ago, with the emphases slightly shifted; it seems more natural and appealing (to me, at least) in this form.
Let ...
- 23k
6
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1
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458
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Applications of small Kakeya sets over finite fields
It was proved by Dvir that a Kakeya set in $\mathbb{F}_q^n$ has size at least $q^n/n!$, a bound which was later improved to $q^n/2^n$.
For $n = 2$ and $q$ odd the exact bound is $q(q+1)/2 + (q-1)/2$ ...
- 1,197
6
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1
answer
444
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Kantor's Singer cycle theorem
I'm trying to understand the proof of Kantor's Singer cycle theorem, which asserts that if $G$ is a subgroup of $\operatorname{GL}(n,q)$ containing a Singer cycle then $\operatorname{GL}(n/s,q^s) \leq ...
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341
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Which finite projective planes can have a symmetric incidence matrix?
As the title says. Which finite projective planes admit a symmetric incidence matrix?
I am not an expert in the field at all, but I consulted with one. He claimed that $PG(2, \mathbb F_q)$ can always ...
- 237
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1
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343
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Large gaps in Singer planar difference sets?
By a classical result of Singer (1938), for a prime number $p$ the cyclic group $C_n$ of order $n=1+p+p^2$ contains a subset $D$ of cardinality $|D|=1+p$ such that $DD^{-1}=C_n$. Such set $D$ is ...
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Which cyclic groups admit a difference set?
Problem 1. For which $n$ does the cyclic group $C_n$ admit a difference set $D\subset C_n$, i.e., a set such that each non-unit element $x\in C_n$ can be uniquely written as the difference $x=ab^{-1}$...
- 42k
5
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2
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Sets blocking every $2$-flat in $AG(n,2)$
The following may be well-known $-$ but not known to me:
What is the smallest possible size of a set in ${\mathbb F}_2^n$ that blocks every $2$-flat?
Here "blocks" means "have a non-empty ...
- 23k
5
votes
1
answer
140
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Is there literature on finite geometries with ordered lines?
A difference between finite geometries and (e.g.) Euclidean space is that "lines" in finite geometries are unordered subsets of the universe, while "lines" in Euclidean space are ordered subsets of ...
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1
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$(n-2)$-blocking sets in $AG(n,2)$
Let's define $k$-blocking set in affine space $AG(n,q)$ a set that meets every coset (translate of subspace) of dimension $k$.
I have seen a lot work related to minimal $(n-1)$-blockings set.
...
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1
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Generalization of finite-projective-plane with more than one intersection point
In a finite projective plane, each two points appear together in exactly one line, and each two lines intersect in exactly one point. It is known that, if each line contains $n+1$ points, then the ...
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What (if anything) is the connection between the Feit-Higman Theorem and the regular plane tilings?
Here are two facts that are superficially similar.
Tiling Theorem: The only regular tilings of $\mathbb{R}^2$ are achieved by triangles, squares, and hexagons.
Feit-Higman Theorem: The only finite ...
- 1,389
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0
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Lines meeting a given set in a unique point
Let $p$ be a fixed prime, and suppose that $S$ is a subset of the affine plane $\mathbb F_p^2$. If $|S|\le p+1$, then by the pigeonhole principle, through any given point $s\in S$ there is a line $L=L(...
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A question on hyperplanes in partial linear spaces and hypergraphs
A partial linear space (or a linear hypergraph) is a point line geometry $(P,L,I)$ where for every pair of points there is at most one line incident with both of them. A hyperplane in a partial linear ...
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3
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Does there exist a finite hyperbolic geometry in which every line contains at least 3 points, but not every line contains the same number of points?
It seems to me that the answer should be yes, but my naive attempts to come up with an example have failed.
Just to clarify, by finite hyperbolic geometry I mean a finite set of points and lines such ...
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2
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Finding the set of all $0$-$1$ vectors in an affine subspace
We are given a $0$-$1$ matrix $A$ with constant row and column sum, and we need to find out if there exists a $0$-$1$ vector in the solution space of $Ax = \mathbf{1}$ over $\mathbb{Q}$ (or $\mathbb{Z}...
- 1,197
4
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1
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Square-free sets in $\mathbb F_2^n\oplus\mathbb F_2^n$
A square in $\mathbb F_2^n\oplus\mathbb F_2^n$ is a quadruple of the form
$$ (u,v)+\{(0,0),(0,d),(d,0),(d,d)\},\quad u,v,d\in\mathbb F_2^n,\ d\ne 0. $$
A set $A\subset\mathbb F_2^n\oplus\mathbb F_2^...
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1
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Point-Hyperplane incidence in finite projective spaces
Let $P$ be a finite projective space of order $q$ and dimension $d$. I am interested in finding the least $k$ such that for any set $S$ of $k$ points of $P$, and for any set $S'$ of $k$ hyperplanes of ...
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Is there a unique Baer subplane in a finite Desarguesian projective plane?
An order-$m$ subplane of a finite projective plane of order $n$ is called a Baer subplane if $n=m^2$.
It is known that the projective plane $PG(2,q)$ is a Baer subplane of the Desarguesian ...
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1
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463
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Covering all, but $k$ points with affine subspaces
For non-negative integer $d\le n$ and $k\le 2^n$, how many affine subspaces of co-dimension $d$ are needed to cover all, but exactly $k$ elements of the vector space ${\mathbb F}_2^n$, and what are ...
- 23k
4
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0
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143
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Non-Desarguesian finite projective planes with ≤3 (non-collinear) chosen points, and coordinatisation
It is well-known that an arbitrary projective plane can have very different symmetry group to a field plane. In particular, the symmetries are not transitive on the set of fundamental quadrangles. ...
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250
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Birkhoff – von Neumann for "$k$-stochastic matrices"
Recall that a doubly-stochastic matrix is a square matrix with non-negative elements such the sum of the elements in every row, as well as in every column, is $1$. The set of doubly-stochastic ...
- 23k
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0
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Forcing scalar products to avoid prescribed values
Let $p$ be a prime, and $n\ge 1$ an integer number. Suppose that the (not necessarily distinct) vectors $v_1,\dotsc,v_N \in{\mathbb F}_p^n$ satisfy the following condition:
\begin{gather}
\text{For ...
- 23k
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0
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242
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Sets of spreads in graphs
Let $G$ be a graph. A $k$-spread is a set of cliques of order $k$ which partition the vertex set (so $k|n$, where $n$ is the number of vertices).
A partial $k$-resolution of $G$ is a set of pairwise ...
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2
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244
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Incidence matrices of generalized quadrangles
Is there somewhere a database of incidence matrices of generalized quadrangles that one can download?
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3
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611
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On MDS code property
Is there a code that is Maximum Distance Separable and not isomorphic to Reed Solomon Codes? When is a MDS code isomorphic to Reed Solomon Code?
Is there an easy test? If so, could someone provide ...
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3
votes
1
answer
164
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A system of linear equations related to the geometry of a finite plane
Let $\mathcal L$ denote the set of all lines in $\mathbb F_p^2$ parallel to one of the lines
$$ X:=\{(x,0)\colon x\in\mathbb F_p \},
\ Y:=\{(0,y)\colon y\in\mathbb F_p \},
\ Z:=\{(z,z)\...
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