On complete arcs arising from plane curves (Q1862441)

A \((k,d)\)-arc \(K\) in \(PG(2,q)\) is a set of \(k\) points, such that no line of \(PG(2,q)\) contains more than \(d\) points of \(K\). A \((k,d)\)-arc is called complete if it is not contained in a \((k+1,d)\)-arc of \(PG(2,q)\). A method to construct \((k,d)\)-arcs in \(PG(2,q)\) is to consider the set of \(k\) points of \(PG(2,q)\) belonging to a plane algebraic curve \(\chi\) of degree \(d\) defined over \(GF(q)\) whose components are non-linear. The authors say that such an algebraic curve \(\chi\) has the arc property when effectively this algebraic curve \(\chi\) gives a complete \((k,d)\)-arc in \(PG(2,q)\). The authors study this method for \(GF(q)\)-Frobenius non-classical plane curves. Their study gives complete \((d(q-d+2),d)\)-arcs in \(PG(2,q)\), where \(d=(q-1)/(q'-1)\), with \(q'\) a power of the characteristic of the field \(GF(q)\). They also construct new complete \((k,d)\)-arcs in \(PG(2,q)\), \(q\) square, with either \(k=q\sqrt{q}b+1\) and \(d=(\sqrt{q}+1)b, 2 \leq b \leq \sqrt{q}-1\), or \(k=(q-1)\sqrt{q}b+\sqrt{q}+1\) and \(d=(\sqrt{q}+1)b\), \(2 \leq b \leq \sqrt{q}-2\). In both cases, the algebraic curves involved are the unions of Hermitian curves.