Caps on classical varieties and their projections (Q5927681)

A \(k\)-cap in \(PG(d,q)\) is a set of \(k\) points, no three of which are collinear. The study of caps has gained interest in recent years because of the connection with certain linear codes. Modeling \(PG(3r-1, q), r \geq 2\), by \(GF(q^{2r}) \times GF (q^r)\) as a vector space over \(GF(q)\), it is shown that the points of \(\Sigma=PG(3r-1, q)\) can be partitioned into the points of a subspace \(\Sigma _1 \cong PG (r-1, q)\), the points of a subspace \(\Sigma _2 \cong PG (2r-1, q)\), and \(q^r-1\) caps of size \((q^{2r}-1)/(q-1)\) each. The idea is to appropriately lift the action of a Singer cycle naturally acting on the subspace \(\Sigma _2\) to the entire space \(\Sigma\). It is also shown that each of the above cyclic caps is a union of Veronese varieties. These caps can be extended to larger caps in certain dimensions when \(q\) is even by adding a point of \(\Sigma _1\) or \(\Sigma _2\). Perhaps most interestingly, it is shown that each of the above cyclic caps is a projection of a so-called EMS cap [\textit{G. L. Ebert, K. Metsch} and \textit{T. Szőnyi}, Geom. Dedicata 70, No. 2, 181-196 (1998; Zbl 0911.51013)] in \(PG(({2r \atop 2})-1,q)\). By decreasing the dimension of the ambient space from \(({2r \atop 2})-1\) to \(3r-1\), the projected caps become more interesting. In fact, asymptotically the projected caps in \(PG(3r-1, q)\) have the same order as the largest known caps in this space.