Rank properties of subspaces of symmetric and Hermitian matrices over finite fields (Q650826)

Constant rank subspaces of symmetric and Hermitian matrices over a finite field are investigated. The main result is an optimal upper bound for the dimension of such subspaces. The constant rank subspaces \(\mathcal{M}\) in the matrix algebra \(M_{n,m}\) are a classical subject in linear algebra. There solution of the problem of classification for \(\dim\mathcal{M}=2\) subspaces can be found in classical books [\textit{F. R. Gantmacher}, The theory of matrices. (Russian) 2nd ed. Moskau: Verlag 'Nauka' (1966; Zbl 0145.03604); \textit{W. V. D. Hodge} and \textit{D. Pedoe}, Methods of algebraic geometry. Volume II. Book III: General theory of algebraic varieties in projective space. Book IV: Quadrics and Grassmann varieties. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1994; Zbl 0796.14002)]. For subspaces with higher dimension there are partial classification results. One of the common problems in this case is to obtain an upper bound for the dimension of the constant rank subspaces \(\mathcal{M}\) (see the review of result about constant rank subspaces \(\mathcal{M}\), \(\dim \mathcal{M}>3\) in [\textit{B. Ilic} and \textit{J. M. Landsberg}, Math. Ann. 314, No. 1, 159--174 (1999; Zbl 0949.14028)] and [\textit{J.-G. Dumas} et al., Linear Algebra Appl. 433, No. 1, 191--202 (2010; Zbl 1198.15015)]). We mention that the paper by Ilic and Landsberg [Zbl 0949.14028] was motivated by applications in algebraic geometry. The main result of the paper under review is the following. Let \(\mathbb{F}_{q}\) denote a field with \(q\) elements. Let \(\mathcal{M}\) be a constant rank \(t\) \(\mathbb{F}_{q}\)-subspace in the space of \(n\times n\) Hermitian matrices over \(\mathbb{F}_{q^2}\). Then if \(t\) is odd then \(dim\mathcal{M}\leq t\) and if \(t\) is even, then \(dim\mathcal{M}\leq 2n-t\). Both bounds are best possible. Versions of these results for symmetric matrices are also presented. There are also some bounds for dimensions of spaces of matrices with bounded rank.