Improved upper bounds for partial spreads (Q2402972)

A partial \((k-1)\)-spread of \(\mathrm{PG}(n-1,q)\) is a set of mutually disjoint \((k-1)\)-dimensional subspaces. A partial \((k-1)\)-spread in \(\mathrm{PG}(n-1,q)\) corresponds to a constant dimension subspace code in \(V(n,q)\), where codewords have dimension \(k\) and the minimumdistance is \(2k\). The maximum number of codewords in such a code is denoted by \(A_q(n,2k;k)\). A trivial upper bound for the size of a partial spread is given by \(\frac{q^n-1}{q^k-1}\). This bound is attained if and only if \(n\) is \(0\) mod \(k\) and in this case, we find a spread of \(\mathrm{PG}(n-1,q)\). In the case that \(n\equiv 1\) mod \(k\), \textit{A. Beutelspacher} [Math. Z. 145, 211--229 (1975; Zbl 0297.50018)] proved that \(A_q(n,2k;k)=\frac{q^n-q^{k+1}+q^k-1}{q^k-1}\). The best known upper bound for \(A_q(n,2k;k)\) for \(n\) different from \(0\) or \(1\) mod \(k\) is given in [\textit{D. A. Drake} and \textit{J. W. Freeman}, J. Geom. 13, 210--216 (1979; Zbl 0428.51004)]. In this paper, the author determines \(A_q(n,2k;k)\) in the case that \(q=2\) and \(n\) is congruent to \(2\) mod \(k\). The main theorem is that for integers \(t\geq 2\) and \(k\geq 4\), we have that \[ A_2(kt+2,2k;k)=\frac{2^{kt+2}-3.2^k-1}{2^k-1}. \] The proof consists of a combinatorial argument based on the intersection of a partial spread with a hyperplane, and boils down to a clever combination of the main theorem of [loc. cit.] with more recent work on the tail of a subspace [\textit{O. Heden}, Discrete Math. 309, No. 21, 6169--6180 (2009; Zbl 1235.51013)].