On the linearity of higher-dimensional blocking sets (Q612966)

Summary: A small minimal \(k\)-blocking set \(B\) in PG\((n,q)\), \(q=p^t\), \(p\) prime, is a set of less than \(3(q^k+1)/2\) points in PG\((n,q)\), such that every \((n-k)\)-dimensional space contains at least one point of \(B\) and such that no proper subset of \(B\) satisfies this property. The linearity conjecture states that all small minimal \(k\)-blocking sets in PG\((n,q)\) are linear over a subfield \(\mathbb F_{p^e}\) of \(\mathbb F_q\). Apart from a few cases, this conjecture is still open. In this paper, we show that to prove the linearity conjecture for \(k\)-blocking sets in PG(\(n,p_t)\), with exponent \(e\) and \(p^e\geq 7\), it is sufficient to prove it for one value of \(n\) that is at least \(2k\). Furthermore, we show that the linearity of small minimal blocking sets in PG\((2,q)\) implies the linearity of small minimal \(k\)-blocking sets in PG\((n,p^t)\), with exponent \(e\), with \(p^e\geq t/e + 11\).