The order of the automorphism group of a binary qq-analog of the Fano plane is at most two

It is shown that the automorphism group of a binary $q$-analog of the Fano plane is either trivial or of order $2$.Comment: 10 page

New and Updated Semidefinite Programming Bounds for Subspace Codes

We show that $A_2(7,4) \leq 388$ and, more generally, $A_q(7,4) \leq (q^2-q+1)[7]_q + q^4 - 2q^3 + 3q^2 - 4q + 4$ by semidefinite programming for $q \leq 101$. Furthermore, we extend results by Bachoc et al. on SDP bounds for $A_2(n,d)$, where $d$ is odd and $n$ is small, to $A_q(n,d)$ for small $q$ and small $n$

A subspace code of size 333 in the setting of a binary q-analog of the Fano plane

We show that there is a binary subspace code of constant dimension 3 in ambient dimension 7, having minimum distance 4 and cardinality 333, i.e., $333 \le A_2(7,4;3)$, which improves the previous best known lower bound of 329. Moreover, if a code with these parameters has at least 333 elements, its automorphism group is in one of $31$ conjugacy classes. This is achieved by a more general technique for an exhaustive search in a finite group that does not depend on the enumeration of all subgroups.Comment: 18 pages; typos correcte

Constructions of new matroids and designs over GF(q)

A perfect matroid design (PMD) is a matroid whose flats of the same rank all have the same size. In this paper we introduce the q-analogue of a PMD and its properties. In order to do that, we first establish a new cryptomorphic definition for q-matroids. We show that q-Steiner systems are examples of q-PMD's and we use this q-matroid structure to construct subspace designs from q-Steiner systems. We apply this construction to S(2, 3, 13; q) q-Steiner systems and hence establish the existence of subspace designs with previously unknown parameters

q-analogs of group divisible designs

A well known class of objects in combinatorial design theory are {group divisible designs}. Here, we introduce the $q$-analogs of group divisible designs. It turns out that there are interesting connections to scattered subspaces, $q$-Steiner systems, design packings and $q^r$-divisible projective sets. We give necessary conditions for the existence of $q$-analogs of group divsible designs, construct an infinite series of examples, and provide further existence results with the help of a computer search. One example is a $(6,3,2,2)_2$ group divisible design over $\operatorname{GF}(2)$ which is a design packing consisting of $180$ blocks that such every $2$-dimensional subspace in $\operatorname{GF}(2)^6$ is covered at most twice.Comment: 18 pages, 3 tables, typos correcte

Coding Theory and Algebraic Combinatorics

This chapter introduces and elaborates on the fruitful interplay of coding theory and algebraic combinatorics, with most of the focus on the interaction of codes with combinatorial designs, finite geometries, simple groups, sphere packings, kissing numbers, lattices, and association schemes. In particular, special interest is devoted to the relationship between codes and combinatorial designs. We describe and recapitulate important results in the development of the state of the art. In addition, we give illustrative examples and constructions, and highlight recent advances. Finally, we provide a collection of significant open problems and challenges concerning future research.Comment: 33 pages; handbook chapter, to appear in: "Selected Topics in Information and Coding Theory", ed. by I. Woungang et al., World Scientific, Singapore, 201

Generalized vector space partitions

A vector space partition $\mathcal{P}$ in $\mathbb{F}_q^v$ is a set of subspaces such that every $1$-dimensional subspace of $\mathbb{F}_q^v$ is contained in exactly one element of $\mathcal{P}$. Replacing "every point" by "every $t$-dimensional subspace", we generalize this notion to vector space $t$-partitions and study their properties. There is a close connection to subspace codes and some problems are even interesting and unsolved for the set case $q=1$.Comment: 12 pages, typos correcte