On nuclei and affine blocking sets (Q1331138)

Let \(\pi = AG(2,q)\) denote the desarguesian affine plane of order \(q\). A subset \(B\) of points from \(\pi\) is called a blocking set if every line of \(\pi\) meets \(B\). It has been proven independently by \textit{A. Brouwer} and \textit{A. Schrijver} [J. Comb. Theory, Ser. A 24, 251-253 (1978; Zbl 0373.05020)] and by \textit{R. Jamison} [J. Comb. Theory, Ser. A 22, 253-266 (1977; Zbl 0354.12019)] that \(| B| \geq 2q - 1\) for any blocking set \(B\) of \(\pi\). If \(B\) is any set of points in \(\pi\) (not necessarily a blocking set), a point \(P\) of \(\pi \setminus B\) is called a nucleus of \(B\) if every line through \(P\) meets \(B\). Letting \(N(B)\) denote the set of all nuclei of \(B\), it has been proven by the author and \textit{H. Wilbrink} [Geom. Dedicata 23, 253-254 (1987; Zbl 0621.51013)] that \(| N(B)| \leq q - 1\) if \(| B| = q + 1\). In the short but sweet paper under review the author extends the latter result above to show that \(| N(B)| \leq k(q-1)\) if \(| B| = q+k\). This generalization also proves the previously mentioned lower bound result for blocking sets of \(\pi\) since, if \(B\) is a blocking set, then \(N(B) = \pi \setminus B\). The proof given for this generalization is a clever polynomial argument involving the \(k\)th symmetric function \(\sigma_ k\), where \(\sigma_ k (X)\) is the coefficient of \(t^{n - k}\) in the polynomial expansion of \(\prod^ n_{i = 1} (t - x_ i)\) and \(X = \{x_ 1, x_ 2, \dots, x_ n\}\). The key ingredient is the fact that \(\sigma_ k(X) = 0\) whenever \(X\) is a set of at most \(2q\) elements from \(GF(q^ 2)\) which contains all the \((q + 1)\)st roots of unity.