Minimal blocks of binary even-weight vectors (Q2494664)

Minimal and tangential blocks were first defined by \textit{W. T. Tutte} in [J. Comb. Theory 1, 15--50 (1966; Zbl 0139.41402)]. A \(k\)-block \(M\) over GF\((q)\) can be defined as a set of points in projective space PG\((n-1, q)\) such that every codimension-\(k\) subspace in PG\((n-1, q)\) contains at least one point in \(M\). If \(X\) is a flat in \(M\), a tangent of \(X\) is a codimension-\(k\) subspace \(U\) such that \(M\cap U = X\). A \(k\)-block \(M\) is minimal if every point has a tangent. Blocks can also be defined using the critical problem of Crapo and Rota [Zbl 0862.05019]. Using linear algebra it is shown that certain sets of binary vectors of even weight are minimal blocks. This direct method developed by the author works independently of dimension, and it also works on polymatroids. As a final illustration the results are applied to minimal blocks of graphs, generalizing Tutte's odd circuit lemma.