Extending small arcs to large arcs (Q1746615)

An arc \(G\) is a set of vectors of the \(k\)-dimensional vector space \(V_k(\mathbb{F}_q)\) over the finite field of order \(q\), in which every subset of size \(k\) is a basis of this space. The author of this article proves the main conjecture for arcs defined over prime fields. He proves that there do not exist \((p+2)\)-arcs in \(k\)-dimensional vector spaces \(V_k(\mathbb{F}_p)\), with \(k\leq p\), over the prime field of order \(p\). The author is a world expert on the polynomial method, and now presents tools and ideas regarding the extension of arcs to larger arcs. He associates a matrix \(M_n\) to an arc \(G\) in \(V_k(\mathbb{F}_q)\), with \(n\leq |G|-k\). The usefulness of this matrix \(M_n\) arises for instance from the following result: If there is a vector of weight one in the column space of \(M_n\), then the arc \(G\) cannot be extended to an arc of size \(q+2k+n-1-|G|\) (Theorem 1.1). Theorem 1.1, and also Theorems 1.2 and 1.4, can be of use to classify or construct arcs computationally. The author can also make links to other techniques for investigating the extendability of arcs to larger arcs. \textit{A. Blokhuis} et al. [Geom. Dedicata 35, No. 1--3, 1--11 (1990; Zbl 0709.51013)] associated an algebraic hypersurface \(\phi_S\) to an arc \(S\) in \(V_k(\mathbb{F}_q)\). In Section 5 of this article, the author explicitly constructs this algebraic hypersurface \(\phi_S\) to an arc \(S\). The author already has developed many times very powerful techniques for investigating substructures in finite vector spaces or finite projective spaces. It is very interesting to study the tools and ideas developed by the author in this article, and in other articles written by this author, to apply them for the study of arcs and of other substructures in finite vector spaces or finite projective spaces.