Higgledy-piggledy subspaces and uniform subspace designs

In this article, we investigate collections of `well-spread-out' projective (and linear) subspaces. Projective $k$-subspaces in $\mathsf{PG}(d,\mathbb{F})$ are in `higgledy-piggledy arrangement' if they meet each projective subspace of co-dimension $k$ in a generator set of points. We prove that the set $\mathcal{H}$ of higgledy-piggledy $k$-subspaces has to contain more than $\min{|\mathbb{F}|,\sum_{i=0}^k\lfloor\frac{d-k+i}{i+1}\rfloor}$ elements. We also prove that $\mathcal{H}$ has to contain more than $(k+1)\cdot(d-k)$ elements if the field $\mathbb{F}$ is algebraically closed. An $r$-uniform weak $(s,A)$ subspace design is a set of linear subspaces $H_1,..,H_N\le\mathbb{F}^m$ each of rank $r$ such that each linear subspace $W\le\mathbb{F}^m$ of rank $s$ meets at most $A$ among them. This subspace design is an $r$-uniform strong $(s,A)$ subspace design if $\sum_{i=1}^N\mathrm{rank}(H_i\cap W)\le A$ for $\forall W\le\mathbb{F}^m$ of rank $s$. We prove that if $m=r+s$ then the dual ($\{H_1^\bot,...,H_N^\bot\}$) of an $r$-uniform weak (strong) subspace design of parameter $(s,A)$ is an $s$-uniform weak (strong) subspace design of parameter $(r,A)$. We show the connection between uniform weak subspace designs and higgledy-piggledy subspaces proving that $A\ge\min{|\mathbb{F}|,\sum_{i=0}^{r-1}\lfloor\frac{s+i}{i+1}\rfloor}$ for $r$-uniform weak or strong $(s,A)$ subspace designs in $\mathbb{F}^{r+s}$. We show that the $r$-uniform strong $(s,r\cdot s+\binom{r}{2})$ subspace design constructed by Guruswami and Kopprty (based on multiplicity codes) has parameter $A=r\cdot s$ if we consider it as a weak subspace design. We give some similar constructions of weak and strong subspace designs (and higgledy-piggledy subspaces) and prove that the lower bound $(k+1)\cdot(d-k)+1$ over algebraically closed field is tight.Comment: 27 pages. Submitted to Designs Codes and Cryptograph

Lines in higgledy-piggledy position

We examine sets of lines in PG(d,F) meeting each hyperplane in a generator set of points. We prove that such a set has to contain at least 1.5d lines if the field F has more than 1.5d elements, and at least 2d-1 lines if the field F is algebraically closed. We show that suitable 2d-1 lines constitute such a set (if |F| > or = 2d-1), proving that the lower bound is tight over algebraically closed fields. At last, we will see that the strong (s,A) subspace designs constructed by Guruswami and Kopparty have better (smaller) parameter A than one would think at first sight.Comment: 17 page

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

An extension of the direction problem

AbstractLet U be a point set in the n-dimensional affine space AG(n,q) over the finite field of q elements and 0≤k≤n−2. In this paper we extend the definition of directions determined by U: a k-dimensional subspace Sk at infinity is determined by U if there is an affine (k+1)-dimensional subspace Tk+1 through Sk such that U∩Tk+1 spans Tk+1. We examine the extremal case |U|=qn−1, and classify point sets not determining every k-subspace in certain cases

A finite word poset : In honor of Aviezri Fraenkel on the occasion of his 70th birthday

Our word posets have �nite words of bounded length as their elements, with the words composed from a �nite alphabet. Their partial ordering follows from the inclusion of a word as a subsequence of another word. The elemental combinatorial properties of such posets are established. Their automorphism groups are determined (along with similar result for the word poset studied by Burosch, Frank and R¨ohl [4]) and a BLYM inequality is veri�ed (via the normalized matching property)

The number of directions determined by less than q points

In this article we prove a theorem about the number of direc- tions determined by less then q affine points, similar to the result of Blokhuis et. al. [3] on the number of directions determined by q affine points