Relative blocking sets of unions of Baer subplanes (Q670209)

Let \(\mathrm{PG}(2,q)\) be the Desarguesian projective plane of order \(q\) and \(\Pi_q = (\mathcal{P}(\Pi_q),\mathcal{L}(\Pi_q))\) be any projective plane of order \(q\). A blocking set of \(\Pi_q\) is a set of points containing at least one point of every line of \(\Pi_q \). The authors generalize this conception by considering the relative blocking set. If a substructure (\(\mathcal{P}\), \(\mathcal{L}\)), where \(\mathcal{P}\) is a subset of points and \(\mathcal{L}\) a subset of lines of \(\Pi_q\) is investigated, a relative blocking set is \(\mathcal{L}\)-blocking set contained in \(\mathcal{P}\). In this paper, \(\Pi_q\) is \(\mathrm{PG}(2,q^2)\) and the set of points \(\mathcal{P}\) is the union of \(t\) pairwise disjoint Baer subplanes. There is an additional condition for the considered substructure, namely a line of one of the Baer subplanes has to intersect the other Baer subplanes in exactly one point. The main results are stated in the next three theorems: \begin{itemize} \item (Theorem 1.6) If \(B\) is a relative blocking set for a set of \(t\) pairwise disjoint Baer subplanes \(B_i\), \(i=1, \ldots, t\), in \(\mathrm{PG}(2,q^2)\), with \(t < \frac{1}{2}\sqrt{q}\) and \(\left|B\right|\leq t(q+1)\), then \(B\) contains a Baer subline in each Baer subplane \(B_i\) and, consequently, \(\left|B\right|=t(q+1)\) and \(B\) is the union of \(t\) Baer sublines. \item (Theorem 1.7) If \(q > 3610\), \(t < \frac{1}{2}\sqrt{q}\) and \(\left|B\right|\leq t(q+1)+\sqrt{q}\), then \(B\) contains a Baer subline in each Baer subplane \(B_i\), or \(B\) intersects all but one Baer subplane \(B_i\) in a Baer subline and the last one in a Baer subplane of a Baer subplane. \item (Theorem 1.8) If \(q^2 - q + 1 > t > q^2 - q + 1 - \delta\), where \(\delta \leq \frac{q^2 - q - 2}{q \log(2q)}\), then the smallest relative blocking set in the union of \(t\) Baer subplanes is a Baer subplane of \(\mathrm{PG}(2,q^2)\). \end{itemize} With this, the authors claim that for small \(t\), the smallest set that blocks the long secants of the union of \(t\) pairwise disjoint Baer subplanes in \(\mathrm{PG}(2,q^2)\) has size \(t(q+1)\) and consists of \(t\) Baer sublines, while for large \(t\) it has size \(q^2+q+1\) and is itself a Baer subplane of \(\mathrm{PG}(2,q^2)\).