Caps in the projective geometry PG\((n,4)\) (Q1827583)

A \(k\)-cap is a set of \(k\) points in PG\((n,q)\) no three of which are collinear. A \(k\)-cap is called complete if it is not contained in a (\(k+1\))-cap. Natural examples of caps are conics in PG\((2,q)\) and elliptic quadrics in PG\((3,q)\). Actually often many points do not form a cap and on the other hand often few points form a cap which is not complete. These obvious remarks introduce the problem of constructing complete caps either with the maximal number of points or with the minimal number of points. Both questions have been studied by many authors in the last 50 years, but they are not solved yet in the general case and it is easy to foresee that much investigation will be necessary. At present only few results are known and these concern the small values of \(n\). The main results are recalled in the paper under review and the original result is the construction in a geometrical way of complete \(k\)-caps in PG\((n,4)\) for \(k=12(2^{n-1}-1)+5\). In particular for \(n=3\) and for \(n=4\) this construction gives known caps; for \(n \geq 5\) the authors obtain complete caps consisting of few points.