Special point sets in \(PG(n,q)\) and the structure of sets with the maximal number of nuclei (Q1176181)

A quasi-odd set in \(PG(2,q)\), \(q\) even, as introduced by the same authors in Advances in finite geometries and designs, Proc. 3rd. Isle of Thorns Conf., Chelwood Gate/UK 1990, 27-34 (1991) is an affine set of points with the property that every line intersects it in 0 or in an odd number of points. In the same paper, it was proved that a quasi-odd set has at most \(q-1\) points. In the present paper, the authors obtain corresponding results for general \(q\) and arbitrary dimension. As a corollary, it is proved that the classification of the \(\theta_{n-1}\)-sets in \(PG(n,q)\), \(n>2\) with \(q^{n-1}-q^{n-2}\) nuclei is equivalent to the classification of \((q+1)\)-sets in \(PG(2,q)\) having \(q-1\) nuclei.