An extension of the direction problem (Q427875)

Let \(AG(n,q)\) and \(PG(n,q)\) be the affine and the projective spaces of dimension \(n\) over the Galois field of \(q\) elements. Let \(U\subset AG(n,q) \subset PG(n,q)\) and \(k\leq n-2\) a fixed integer. A \(k\)-dimensional subspace \(S_k \subset H_{\infty}=PG(n,q) \setminus AG(n,q)\) is determined by \(U\) if there exists a \((k+1)\)-dimensional subspace \(T_{k+1}\) such that \(T_{k+1}\cap H_{\infty}=S_{k}\) and containing at least \(k+2\) points of \(U\) in general position. If \(U\) does not determine all the \(k\)-dimensional subspaces at infinity, then it is straightforward to check that \(|U|\leq q^{n-1}\). In this paper the authors study the case when \(U\) reaches this bound, i.e. \(|U|=q^{n-1}\). In the general case, they prove the following. Let \(U_{0}\subset AG(m,q)\subset PG(m,q)\) with \(|U_{0}|=q^{m-1}\) embedded in \(AG(n,q)\) (\(n>m\)) and let \(V\subset H_{\infty}=PG(n,q)\setminus AG(n,q)\) be a \((n-m-1)\)-dimensional subspace completely disjoint from \(PG(m,q)\). Let \(U\) be the cone with base \(U_{0}\) and vertex \(V\). An \(r\)-dimensional subspace \(W\subset H_{\infty}\) is not determined by \(U\) if and only if \(W_{0}=PG(m,q)\cap \langle V,W\rangle\) is not determined by \(U_0\). In three dimensional case the authors classify all the affine sets \(U\) which do not determine all the lines in \(H_{\infty}\): these sets can only contain lines in parallel affine planes or \(q\) parallel lines or they are part of a hyperbolic quadric. In the paper it is also proven that, in general, if \(U\) is the affine part of a non-singular quadric for which \(H_{\infty}\) is a tangent hyperplane, then the undetermined \(g\)-dimensional subspaces in \(H_{\infty}\), where \(g\) is the projective index of the quadric, are the generators contained in the intersection of the quadric and \(H_{\infty}\), except few cases with \(q=2\).