On \(k\)-caps in \(\mathrm{PG}(n, q)\), with \(q\) even and \(n \geq 4\) (Q1699552)

A \(k\)-cap in \(\mathrm{PG}(n,q)\) is a set of \(k\) points in \(\mathrm{PG}(n,q)\) no three of which are collinear. A \(k\)-cap is complete if it cannot be extended to a larger cap. In this paper, the author uses combinatorical methods to improve the bound on the maximum possible number of points in a \(k\)-cap in \(\mathrm{PG}(n,q)\) for \(n\geq 4\), for \(q\) even, \(q\) large. If \(m_2(n,q)\) denotes the maximum size of \(k\) such that there exists a \(k\)-cap in \(\mathrm{PG}(n,q)\), then the following results are obtained: Let \(q>2048\), \(q\) even, then \[ m_2(4,q) < q^3-2q^2+3q\sqrt{q}+8q-9\sqrt{q}-6 \] and \[ m_2(n,q) < q^{n-1}-2q^{n-2}+3q^{n-3}\sqrt{q}+8q^{n-3}-9q^{n-4}\sqrt{q}-7q^{n-4}-2(q^{n-5}+\ldots+q+1)+1. \]