On translation hyperovals in semifield planes

DOI10.1007/S10623-024-01533-4MaRDI QIDQ7024135zbMATH OpenFDO

Publication date 21 February 2025

Published in Designs, Codes and Cryptography (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://doi.org/10.1007/S10623-024-01533-4

generalized twisted field hyperoval MRD code scattered subspace semifield translation plane

Polynomials over finite fields (11T06) Semifields (12K10) Nonassociative division algebras (17A35) Translation planes and spreads in linear incidence geometry (51A40) Blocking sets, ovals, (k)-arcs (51E21) Linear codes and caps in Galois spaces (51E22)

Review text

A hyperoval \(\mathcal H\) in a finite projective plane \(\pi\) of (necessarily even) order \(q\) is a set of \(q+2\) points no three of which are collinear. There are projective planes of order 16 that do not contain hyperovals, compare [\textit{T. Penttila} et al., J. Comb. Des. 4, No. 1, 59--65 (1996; Zbl 0917.51008)]. A hyperoval \(\mathcal H\) is called a translation hyperoval if there is a line \(l\) such that a group of elations with axis \(l\) acts transitively on \({\mathcal H}\setminus l\). If \(\pi\) is a non-Desarguesian translation plane, then \(l\) has to be the translation axis and \(|{\mathcal H} \cap l| = 2\). For planes over (proper) semifields, the authors distinguish between translation hyperovals of shears type and of non-shear type depending whether the shears point is on \(\mathcal H\). \par Translation planes of order \(2^n\) can be constructed by \(n\)-spreads \(\mathcal D\) on the \(2n\)-dimensional vector space \(V=\mathrm{GF}(2)^{2n}\) over \(\mathrm{GF}(2)\). The existence of hyperovals in the plane is equivalent to the existence of an \(n\)-dimensional scattered subspace \(U\leq V\) with respect to \(\mathcal D\), where ``scattered with respect to \(\mathcal D\) means that the intersection of \(U\) and any element of \(\mathcal D\) is at most \(1\). Suppose that \(\mathcal D\) belongs to a semifield \(\mathbb{S}\) and let \(C\) be the corresponding spread set in the endomorphism space \(M_n(2)\) of \(\mathrm{GF}(2)^n\). The covering radius \(\rho(C)\) of \(C\) is the minimal integer \(i\) such that for all \(g\in M_n(2)\) there is some \(f\in C\) such that \(\mathrm{rank}(f-g)\) is at most \(i\). \N\NThe authors prove the following theorem: the translation plane defined by \(\mathcal D\) contains translation hyperovals of shears type if and only if \(\rho(C)=n-1\). Moreover, the existence of translation hyperovals of non-shears type is equivalent to \(\rho(C^{-1}) = n-1\), where \(C^{-1} = \{f^{-1}\,|\, f\in C\setminus\{0\}\} \cup \{0\}\}\). \N\NConsidering the projective plane of order \(64\) over the generalized twisted field \(\mathbb{S}\) of Albert, the authors use the preceding result to prove the non-existence of translation hyperovals in this plane, which is the first known example of planes of this kind. The last step in the proof involves the use of MAGMA. Simultanously, the example yields an MRD code in \(M_6(2)\) with minimum distance \(6\) and covering radius at most \(4\) as well as a \(6\)-spread on \(\mathrm{GF}(2)^{12}\) which does not admit a scattered subspace of dimension \(6\).

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