Large caps in small spaces (Q5937087)

A cap of the finite projective space \(\text{PG}(k,q)\) is a set of points no three of which are collinear. The authors construct large caps for \(k\leq 11\) and \(q\leq 9\). Some of their constructions are computer supported. Let \(m_2(k,q)\) be the maximum cardinality of a cap in \(\text{PG}(k,q)\). A cap of maximum cardinality is called complete. It is well known that \(m_2(k,2)=2^k\), \(m_2(2,q) = q+1\) for \(q\) odd, \(m_2(2,q) = q+2\) for \(q\) even, and \(m_2(3,q)=q^2+1\). The complete caps associated to these numbers are either quadrics or ovoids. For \(k>3\), however, quadrics always fail to be caps and no canonical models for complete caps are known. The only other known values of \(m_2(k,q)\) are \(m_2(4,3)=20\), \(m_2(5,3)=56\) and \(m_2(4,4)=41\) [see \textit{G. Pellegrino}, Matematiche 25(1970), 149-157 (1971; Zbl 0223.50020), \textit{R. Hill}, Atti Accad. naz. Lincei, VIII. Ser., Rend., Cl. Sci. fis. Mat. natur. 54(1973), 378-384 (1974; Zbl 0342.05017), and \textit{Y. Edel} and \textit{J. Bierbrauer}, Des. Codes Cryptography 59, 151-160 (1999; Zbl 0935.51008)]. Using recursive construction schemes from a previous paper [\textit{Y. Edel} and \textit{J. Bierbrauer}, Bull. Belg. Math. Soc. -- Simon Stevin 6, 249-258 (1999; Zbl 0941.51009)] the authors achieve to construct large caps based on either ovoids or on the Hill cap. In several cases, these large caps were used as starting points for computer based searches for finding complete caps. The paper ends with a complete list of lower bounds on \(m_2(k,q)\) for \(k\leq 11\) and \(q\leq 9\). For \(k\leq 7\) or \(q=3\) these bounds are sharp.