No label defined (Q3973787)

[For the entire collection see Zbl 0727.00008.] The nucleus \(N(B)\) of a set \(B\) of \(q+1\) points in the finite projective plane \(PG(2,q)\) is the set of points incident with \(q+1\) lines tangent to \(B\). It was shown by the first author and \textit{H. A. Wilbrink} that \(| N(B)|\leq q-1\) [Geom. Dedicata 23, 253-254 (1987; Zbl 0621.51013)]. The paper under review gives an alternative proof using the Segre-Korchmáros lemma and a new technique of lifting the set \(N(B)\) in affine 3-spaces; each point turns out to have different height, hence the result. Next, the authors use the algebraic technique of the original proof of the above result to show that every quasi-odd set (i.e. a set \(A\) such that every line meets \(A\) in zero or an odd number of points) has at most \(q-1\) points in the affine plane \(AG(2,q)\). They also show that in \(PG(2,p^ h)\), \(p\) prime, if a set of \(B\) of \(q+1\) points has \(q-1\) nuclei, then no line meets \(B\cup N(B)\) in \(1\pmod p\) points. Hence \(N(B)\) is quasi-odd for \(p=2\). Finally the authors provide a third proof of the result of the first author and Wilbrink mentioned above.