Hermitian codes from higher degree places

Matthews and Michel investigated the minimum distances in certain algebraic-geometry codes arising from a higher degree place $P$. In terms of the Weierstrass gap sequence at $P$, they proved a bound that gives an improvement on the designed minimum distance. In this paper, we consider those of such codes which are constructed from the Hermitian function field. We determine the Weierstrass gap sequence $G(P)$ where $P$ is a degree 3 place, and compute the Matthews and Michel bound with the corresponding improvement. We show more improvements using a different approach based on geometry. We also compare our results with the true values of the minimum distances of Hermitian 1-point codes, as well as with estimates due Xing and Chen

Group-labeled light dual multinets in the projective plane (with Appendix)

In this paper we investigate light dual multinets labeled by a finite group in the projective plane $PG(2,\mathbb{K})$ defined over a field $\mathbb{K}$. We present two classes of new examples. Moreover, under some conditions on the characteristic $\mathbb{K}$, we classify group-labeled light dual multinets with lines of length least $9$

3-nets realizing a diassociative loop in a projective plane

A \textit{$3$-net} of order $n$ is a finite incidence structure consisting of points and three pairwise disjoint classes of lines, each of size $n$, such that every point incident with two lines from distinct classes is incident with exactly one line from each of the three classes. The current interest around $3$-nets (embedded) in a projective plane $PG(2,K)$, defined over a field $K$ of characteristic $p$, arose from algebraic geometry. It is not difficult to find $3$-nets in $PG(2,K)$ as far as $0<p\le n$. However, only a few infinite families of $3$-nets in $PG(2,K)$ are known to exist whenever $p=0$, or $p>n$. Under this condition, the known families are characterized as the only $3$-nets in $PG(2,K)$ which can be coordinatized by a group. In this paper we deal with $3$-nets in $PG(2,K)$ which can be coordinatized by a diassociative loop $G$ but not by a group. We prove two structural theorems on $G$. As a corollary, if $G$ is commutative then every non-trivial element of $G$ has the same order, and $G$ has exponent $2$ or $3$. We also discuss the existence problem for such $3$-nets

A characterization of the Artin-Mumford curve

Let $\mathcal{M}$ be the Artin-Mumford curve over the finite prime field $\mathbb{F}_p$ with $p>2$. By a result of Valentini and Madan, \mbox{Aut}_{\mathbb{F}_p}(\mathcal{M})\cong H with $H=(C_p\times C_p)\rtimes D_{p-1}$. We prove that if $\mathcal{X}$ is an algebraic curve of genus $g=(p-1)^2$ such that \mbox{Aut}_{\mathbb{F}_p}(\mathcal{X}) contains a subgroup isomorphic to $H$ then $\mathcal{X}$ is birationally equivalent over $\mathbb{F}_p$ to the Artin-Mumford curve $\mathcal{M}$

Curves with more than one inner Galois point

Let $\mathcal{C}$ be an irreducible plane curve of $\text{PG}(2,\mathbb{K})$ where $\mathbb{K}$ is an algebraically closed field of characteristic $p\geq 0$. A point $Q\in \mathcal{C}$ is an inner Galois point for $\mathcal{C}$ if the projection $\pi_Q$ from $Q$ is Galois. Assume that $\mathcal{C}$ has two different inner Galois points $Q_1$ and $Q_2$, both simple. Let $G_1$ and $G_2$ be the respective Galois groups. Under the assumption that $G_i$ fixes $Q_i$, for $i=1,2$, we provide a complete classification of $G=\langle G_1,G_2 \rangle$ and we exhibit a curve for each such $G$. Our proof relies on deeper results from group theory