Minimal Blocking Sets inPG(n, 2) and Covering Groups by Subgroups

Authors:

Abstract: In this paper we prove that a set of points

B

of PG(n,2) is a minimal blocking set if and only if

< B > = P G (d, 2)

with

d

odd and

B

is a set of

d + 2

points of

P G (d, 2)

no

d + 1

of them in the same hyperplane. As a corollary to the latter result we show that if

G

is a finite 2-group and

n

is a positive integer, then

G

admits a

m a t h f r a k C_{n + 1}

-cover if and only if

n

is even and

G c o n g (C_{2})^{n}

, where by a

m a t h f r a k C_{m}

-cover for a group

H

we mean a set

m a t h c a l C

of size

m

of maximal subgroups of

H

whose set-theoretic union is the whole

H

and no proper subset of

m a t h c a l C

has the latter property and the intersection of the maximal subgroups is core-free. Also for all

n < 10

we find all pairs

(m, p)

(

m > 0

an integer and

p

a prime number) for which there is a blocking set

B

of size

n

in

P G (m, p)

such that

< B > = P G (m, p)

.

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