On the minimum blocking semioval in \(\mathrm{PG}(2,11)\) (Q6076423)

A blocking semioval in a projective plane is a point set which is simultaneously a blocking set and a semi-oval. That is, a set of points \(S\) in \(\Pi\) such that every line of \(\Pi\) contains at least one point of \(S\) and such that every point of \(S\) lies on exactly one tangent line to \(S\). In this paper, the author continues his study of semiovals in projective planes by focussing on the case \(\mathrm{PG}(2,11)\). A known lower bound gives 25 for the minumum size of a blocking semioval in \(\mathrm{PG}(2,11)\). This paper is devoted to ruling out the existence of a blocking set meeting that bound. A series of theoretical results, proved using combinatorial tools, are employed to make the problem amenable to be tackled by a computer. This leads to the result that there are no blocking semiovals of size 25 in \(\mathrm{PG}(2,11)\). Interestingly, during the computer search, the author found a blocking semioval of size 26. This example and its automorphism group are described at the end of the paper.