On Small Dense Sets in Galois Planes

This paper deals with new infinite families of small dense sets in desarguesian projective planes $PG(2,q)$. A general construction of dense sets of size about $3q^{2/3}$ is presented. Better results are obtained for specific values of $q$. In several cases, an improvement on the best known upper bound on the size of the smallest dense set in $PG(2,q)$ is obtained.

On multiple blocking sets in Galois planes

This article continues the study of multiple blocking sets in PG(2,q). In [A. Blokhuis, L. Storme, T. Szőnyi, Lacunary polynomials, multiple blocking sets and Baer subplanes.J. London Math. Soc. (2)60(1999), 321–332. MR1724814 (2000j:05025) Zbl 0940.51007], using lacunary polynomials, it was proven thatt-fold blocking sets of PG(2,q),qsquare,t<q¼/2, of size smaller thant(q+ 1) +cqq⅔, withcq= 2−⅓whenqis a power of 2 or 3 andcq= 1 otherwise, contain the union oftpairwise disjoint Baer subplanes whent≥ 2, or a line or a Baer subplane whent= 1. We now combine the method of lacunary polynomials with the use of algebraic curves to improve the known characterization results on multiple blocking sets and to prove at(modp) result on smallt-fold blocking sets of PG(2,q=pn),pprime,n≥ 1.

The (11, 3)-arcs of the Galois plane of order 5

1. It was shown by Barlotti(1) that the number, k, of points on a (k, n)-arc in a Galois plane S2, q, of order q, where n and q are coprime, satisfiesRegular arcs, in which all the points are of the same type have been studied by Basile and Brutti(2) and, for n = 3 by d'Orgeval(4). By means of an electronic computer Lunelli and Sce(5) have enumerated many arcs in Galois planes of low order. The object of this note is to show how the (11, 3)-arcs of S2, 5, none of which is regular, may be described using only geometrical properties.