The size of \(m\)-irreducible blocking sets and of the sets of class [\(0,n_{1},\dots ,n_l]\) (Q2467995)

A blocking set \(B\) of a linear space is a set of points such that every line has a point in \(B\) and a point outside \(B\). A blocking set is called irreducible if it does not properly contain a blocking set, i.e. if through any point of \(B\) there is a tangent line to \(B\) (that is a line meeting \(B\) in a unique point). A blocking set is called \(m\)-irreducible if through any of its points there are at least \(m \geq 1\) tangents. In the paper under review, the authors provide an upper bound for the size of an \(m\)-irreducible blocking set which is a generalization of the Bruen-Thas bound for \(\text{PG}(2,q)\) and improves it if \(m > \frac{q^2+q-q \sqrt{q}}{q \sqrt{q}+1}\). They prove that in \(\text{ AG}(2,q)\) two mutually complementary blocking sets are both irreducible if and only if \(q=4\). Moreover, they determine bounds for the size of sets of points in \(\text{PG}(2,q)\) which intersects each line in either (1 mod d) or 0 points, \(2 \leq d <4\).