Proportion of blocking curves in a pencil (Q6930295)

A set \(B\) of points of a finite projective plane \(\mathbb{P}^2(\mathbb{F}_q)\) is called a blocking set if \(B\) intersects every line of \(\mathbb{P}^2(\mathbb{F}_q)\). A blocking set is nontrivial if it does not contain a line. The authors show that if an algebraic curve of degree \(d\) is a nontrivial blocking set then it contains at least \(q + \frac{q + \sqrt q}{ d}\) points.\N\NLet \(\mathcal{L}\) be a pencil of mutually non-intersecting algebraic curves. The authors prove that \(\mathcal{L}\) contains at least \(\sqrt q\) nonblocking curves, and this bound is sharp. If the curves in \(\mathcal{L}\) have degree \(d \le q\), then at least \(\frac{q+1} {d+1}\) of them are nonblocking.