On Mathon's construction of maximal arcs in Desarguesian planes. II

In a recent paper [M], Mathon gives a new construction of maximal arcs which generalizes the construction of Denniston. In relation to this construction, Mathon asks the question of determining the largest degree of a non-Denniston maximal arc arising from his new construction. In this paper, we give a nearly complete answer to this problem. Specifically, we prove that when $m\geq 5$ and $m\neq 9$, the largest $d$ of a non-Denniston maximal arc of degree $2^d$ in PG(2,2^m) generated by a {p,1}-map is (\floor {m/2} +1). This confirms our conjecture in [FLX]. For {p,q}-maps, we prove that if $m\geq 7$ and $m\neq 9$, then the largest $d$ of a non-Denniston maximal arc of degree $2^d$ in PG(2,2^m) generated by a {p,q}-map is either \floor {m/2} +1 or \floor{m/2} +2.Comment: 21 page

On the number of k-dominating independent sets

We study the existence and the number of $k$-dominating independent sets in certain graph families. While the case $k=1$ namely the case of maximal independent sets - which is originated from Erd\H{o}s and Moser - is widely investigated, much less is known in general. In this paper we settle the question for trees and prove that the maximum number of $k$-dominating independent sets in $n$-vertex graphs is between $c_k\cdot\sqrt[2k]{2}^n$ and $c_k'\cdot\sqrt[k+1]{2}^n$ if $k\geq 2$, moreover the maximum number of $2$-dominating independent sets in $n$-vertex graphs is between $c\cdot 1.22^n$ and $c'\cdot1.246^n$. Graph constructions containing a large number of $k$-dominating independent sets are coming from product graphs, complete bipartite graphs and with finite geometries. The product graph construction is associated with the number of certain MDS codes.Comment: 13 page

A study of (x(q+1),x;2,q)-minihypers

In this paper, we study the weighted (x(q + 1), x; 2, q)-minihypers. These are weighted sets of x(q + 1) points in PG(2, q) intersecting every line in at least x points. We investigate the decomposability of these minihypers, and define a switching construction which associates to an (x(q + 1), x; 2, q)-minihyper, with x <= q(2) - q, not decomposable in the sum of another minihyper and a line, a (j (q + 1), j; 2, q)-minihyper, where j = q(2) - q-x, again not decomposable into the sum of another minihyper and a line. We also characterize particular (x(q + 1), x; 2, q)-minihypers, and give new examples. Additionally, we show that (x(q + 1), x; 2, q)-minihypers can be described as rational sums of lines. In this way, this work continues the research on (x(q + 1), x; 2, q)-minihypers by Hill and Ward (Des Codes Cryptogr 44: 169-196, 2007), giving further results on these minihypers

Perp-systems and partial geometries

A perp-system R(r) is a maximal set of r-dimensional subspaces of PG(N,q) equipped with a polarity rho, such that the tangent space of an element of R(r) does not intersect any element of R(r). We prove that a perp-system yields partial geometries, strongly regular graphs, two-weight codes, maximal arcs and k-ovoids. We also give some examples, one of them yielding a new pg(8,20,2)

On the structure of the directions not determined by a large affine point set

Given a point set $U$ in an $n$-dimensional affine space of size $q^{n-1}-\varepsilon$, we obtain information on the structure of the set of directions that are not determined by $U$, and we describe an application in the theory of partial ovoids of certain partial geometries