Spaces of matrices of fixed rank. II (Q1911928)

In the vector space of all \(m\times n\) complex matrices, denote by \(l(k,m,n)\) the maximum dimension of a subspace whose non-zero members have rank \(k\). When \(k+1=\min\{m,n\}\), the number \(l(k,m,n)\) has been determined [cf. \textit{J. Sylvester}, Linear Algebra Appl. 78, 1-10 (1986; Zbl 0588.15002); \textit{R. Westwick} in part I, Linear Multilinear Algebra 20, 171-174 (1987; Zbl 0611.15002) and ibid. 28, No. 3, 155-174 (1990; Zbl 0758.15010)]. The author studies the case \(k+2=\min\{m,n\}\) and proves the following statement. Theorem: Let \(l=l(k,k+2,k+2)\). Then \(k\equiv 1\pmod 3\Rightarrow l=3\); \(k\equiv 0\pmod 3\Rightarrow l\geq 4\) and we have equality when \(k\not\equiv0\pmod 4\); \(k\equiv2\pmod 3\) does not determine \(l\), since \(l(2,4,4)=3\) and \(l(8,10,10)=4\).