Inclusion matrices and the MDS conjecture (Q727207)

Summary: Let \(\mathbb{F}_{q}\) be a finite field of order \(q\) with characteristic \(p\). An arc is an ordered family of at least \(k\) vectors in \(\mathbb{F}_{q}^{k}\) in which every subfamily of size \(k\) is a basis of \(\mathbb{F}_{q}^{k}\). The MDS conjecture, which was posed by \textit{B. Segre} [Ann. Mat. Pura Appl., IV. Ser. 39, 357--379 (1955; Zbl 0066.14001)], states that if \(k \leq q\), then an arc in \(\mathbb{F}_{q}^{k}\) has size at most \(q+1\), unless \(q\) is even and \(k=3\) or \(k=q-1\), in which case it has size at most \(q+2\). We propose a conjecture which would imply that the MDS conjecture is true for almost all values of \(k\) when \(q\) is odd. We prove our conjecture in two cases and thus give simpler proofs of the MDS conjecture when \(k \leq p\), and if \(q\) is not prime, for \(k \leq 2p-2\). To accomplish this, given an arc \(G \subset \mathbb{F}_{q}^{k}\) and a nonnegative integer \(n\), we construct a matrix \(M_{G}^{\uparrow n}\), which is related to an inclusion matrix, a well-studied object in combinatorics. Our main results relate algebraic properties of the matrix \(M_{G}^{\uparrow n}\) to properties of the arc \(G\) and may provide new tools in the computational classification of large arcs.