A Note on the Manickam-Mikl\'os-Singhi Conjecture for Vector Spaces

Let $V$ be an $n$-dimensional vector space over a finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$. Define a real-valued weight function on the $1$-dimensional vector spaces of $V$ such that the sum of all weights is zero. Let the weight of a subspace $S$ be the sum of the weights of the $1$-dimensional subspaces contained in $S$. In 1988 Manickam and Singhi conjectured that if $n \geq 4k$, then the number of $k$-dimensional subspaces with nonnegative weight is at least the number of $k$-dimensional subspaces on a fixed $1$-dimensional subspace. Recently, Chowdhury, Huang, Sarkis, Shahriari, and Sudakov proved the conjecture of Manickam and Singhi for $n \geq 3k$. We modify the technique used by Chowdhury et al. to prove the conjecture for $n \geq 2k$ if $q$ is large. Furthermore, if equality holds and $n \geq 2k+1$, then the set of $k$-dimensional subspaces with nonnegative weight is the set of all $k$-dimensional subspaces on a fixed $1$-dimensional subspace.Comment: 15 pages; this version fixes typos and some minor mistakes, also some proofs got a bit more explicit for an easier understandin

Some non-existence results for distance-jj ovoids in small generalized polygons

We give a computer-based proof for the non-existence of distance-$2$ ovoids in the dual split Cayley hexagon $\mathsf{H}(4)^D$. Furthermore, we give upper bounds on partial distance-$2$ ovoids of $\mathsf{H}(q)^D$ for $q \in \{2, 4\}$.Comment: 10 page

New strongly regular graphs from finite geometries via switching

We show that the strongly regular graph on non-isotropic points of one type of the polar spaces of type U(n, 2), O(n, 3), O(n, 5), O+ (n, 3), and O- (n, 3) are not determined by its parameters for n >= 6. We prove this by using a variation of Godsil-McKay switching recently described by Wang, Qiu, and Hu. This also results in a new, shorter proof of a previous result of the first author which showed that the collinearity graph of a polar space is not determined by its spectrum. The same switching gives a linear algebra explanation for the construction of a large number of non-isomorphic designs. (C) 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Switching for Small Strongly Regular Graphs

We provide an abundance of strongly regular graphs (SRGs) for certain parameters $(n, k, \lambda, \mu)$ with $n < 100$. For this we use Godsil-McKay (GM) switching with a partition of type $4,n-4$ and Wang-Qiu-Hu (WQH) switching with a partition of type $3^2,n-6$. In most cases, we start with a highly symmetric graph which belongs to a finite geometry. To our knowledge, most of the obtained graphs are new. For all graphs, we provide statistics about the size of the automorphism group. We also find the recently discovered Kr\v{c}adinac partial geometry, therefore finding a third method of constructing it.Comment: 15 page

Regular Intersecting Families

We call a family of sets intersecting, if any two sets in the family intersect. In this paper we investigate intersecting families $\mathcal{F}$ of $k$-element subsets of $[n]:=\{1,\ldots, n\},$ such that every element of $[n]$ lies in the same (or approximately the same) number of members of $\mathcal{F}$. In particular, we show that we can guarantee $|\mathcal{F}| = o({n-1\choose k-1})$ if and only if $k=o(n)$.Comment: 15 pages, accepted versio

New Strongly Regular Graphs from Finite Geometries via Switching

We show that the strongly regular graph on non-isotropic points of one type of the polar spaces of type $U(n, 2)$, $O(n, 3)$, $O(n, 5)$, $O^+(n, 3)$, and $O^-(n, 3)$ are not determined by its parameters for $n \geq 6$. We prove this by using a variation of Godsil-McKay switching recently described by Wang, Qiu, and Hu. This also results in a new, shorter proof of a previous result of the first author which showed that the collinearity graph of a polar space is not determined by its spectrum. The same switching gives a linear algebra explanation for the construction of a large number of non-isomorphic designs.Comment: 13 pages, accepted in Linear Algebra and Its Application

The Independence Number of the Orthogonality Graph in Dimension 2k2^k

We determine the independence number of the orthogonality graph on $2^k$-dimensional hypercubes. This answers a question by Galliard from 2001 which is motivated by a problem in quantum information theory. Our method is a modification of a rank argument due to Frankl who showed the analogous result for $4p^k$-dimensional hypercubes, where $p$ is an odd prime.Comment: 3 pages, accepted by Combinatorica, fixed a minor typo spotted by Peter Si