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Scattered polynomials over finite fields attracted an increasing attention in the last years. One of the reasons is their deep connection with Maximum Rank Distance (MRD) codes. Known classification results for exceptional scattered polynomials, i.e. polynomials which are scattered over infinite field extensions, are limited to the cases where their index $\ell$ is small, or a prime number larger than the $q$-degree $k$ of the polynomial, or an integer smaller than the $k$ in the case where $k$ is a prime. In this paper we completely classify exceptional scattered polynomials when the maximum between $\ell$ and $k$ is odd, and give partial results when it is even, extending a result of Ferraguti and Micheli in 2021.

A $k$-server Private Information Retrieval (PIR) code is a binary linear $[m,s]$-code admitting a generator matrix such that for every integer $i$ with $1\le i\le s$ there exist $k$ disjoint subsets of columns (called recovery sets) that add up to the vector of weight one, with the single $1$ in position $i$. As shown in \cite{Fazeli1}, a $k$-server PIR code is useful to reduce the storage overhead of a traditional $k$-server PIR protocol. Finding $k$-server PIR codes with a small blocklength for a given dimension has recently become an important research challenge. In this work, we propose new constructions of PIR codes from combinatorial structures, introducing the notion of $k$-partial packing. Several bounds over the existing literature are improved.

We investigate the Jacobian decomposition of some algebraic curves over finite fields with genus $4$, $5$ and $10$. As a corollary, explicit equations for curves that are either maximal or minimal over the finite field with $p^2$ elements are obtained for infinitely many $p$'s. Lists of small $p$'s for which maximality holds are provided. In some cases we describe the automorphism group of the curve.

In 1895 Wiman introduced a Riemann surface $\mathcal{W}$ of genus $6$ over the complex field $\mathbb{C}$ defined by the homogeneous equation $\mathcal{W}:X^6+Y^6+Z^6+(X^2+Y^2+Z^2)(X^4+Y^4+Z^4)-12X^2 Y^2 Z^2=0$, and showed that its full automorphism group is isomorphic to the symmetric group $S_5$. The curve $\mathcal{W}$ was previously studied as a curve defined over a finite field $\mathbb{F}_{p^2}$ where $p$ is a prime, and necessary and sufficient conditions for its maximality over $\mathbb{F}_{p^2}$ were obtained. In this paper we first show that the result of Wiman concerning the automorphism group of $\mathcal{W}$ holds also over an algebraically closed field $\mathbb{K}$ of positive characteristic $p$, provided that $p \geq 7$. For $p=2,3$ the polynomial $X^6+Y^6+Z^6+(X^2+Y^2+Z^2)(X^4+Y^4+Z^4)-12X^2 Y^2 Z^2$ is not irreducible over $\mathbb{K}$, while for $p=5$ the curve $\mathcal{W}$ is rational and $Aut(\mathcal{W}) \cong PGL(2,\mathbb{K})$. We also show that the $\mathbb{F}_{19^2}$-maximal Wiman's sextic $\mathcal{W}$ is not Galois covered by the Hermitian curve $\mathcal{H}_{19}$ over $\mathbb{F}_{19^2}$., Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1603.06706, arXiv:1703.10592

The Dickson-Guralnick-Zieve curve, briefly DGZ curve, defined over the finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$ arises naturally from the classical Dickson invariant of the projective linear group $PGL(3,\mathbb{F}_q)$. The DGZ curve is an (absolutely irreducible, singular) plane curve of degree $q^3-q^2$ and genus $\frac{1}{2}q(q-1)(q^3-2q-2)+1.$ In this paper we show that the DGZ curve has several remarkable features, those appearing most interesting are: the DGZ curve has a large automorphism group compared to its genus albeit its Hasse-Witt invariant is positive; the Fermat curve of degree $q-1$ is a quotient curve of the DGZ curve; among the plane curves with the same degree and genus of the DGZ curve and defined over $\mathbb{F}_{q^3}$, the DGZ curve is optimal with respect the number of its $\mathbb{F}_{q^3}$-rational points.

In this paper we construct functional codes from Denniston maximal arcs. For $q=2^{4n+2}$ we obtain linear codes with parameters $[(\sqrt{q}-1)(q+1),5,d]_q$ where $\lim_{q \to +\infty} d=(\sqrt{q}-1)q-3\sqrt{q}$. We also find for $q=16,32$ a number of linear codes which appear to have larger minimum distance with respect to the known codes with same length and dimension.

In this note we prove a conjecture by Li, Qu, Li, and Fu on permutation trinomials over $\mathbb{F}_3^{2k}$. In addition, new examples and generalizations of some families of permutation polynomials of $\mathbb{F}_{3^k}$ and $\mathbb{F}_{5^k}$ are given. We also study permutation quadrinomials of type $Ax^{q(q-1)+1} + Bx^{2(q-1)+1} + Cx^{q} + x$. Our method is based on the investigation of an algebraic curve associated with a {fractional polynomial} over a finite field.

Let $X$ be a (projective, geometrically irreducible, nonsingular) algebraic curve of genus $g \ge 2$ defined over an algebraically closed field $K$ of odd characteristic $p$. Let $Aut(X)$ be the group of all automorphisms of $X$ which fix $K$ element-wise. It is known that if $|Aut(X)|\geq 8g^3$ then the $p$-rank (equivalently, the Hasse-Witt invariant) of $X$ is zero. This raises the problem of determining the (minimum-value) function $f(g)$ such that whenever $|Aut(X)|\geq f(g)$ then $X$ has zero $p$-rank. For {\em{even}} $g$ we prove that $f(g)\leq 900 g^2$. The {\em{odd}} genus case appears to be much more difficult although, for any genus $g\geq 2$, if $Aut(X)$ has a solvable subgroup $G$ such that $|G|>252 g^2$ then $X$ has zero $p$-rank and $G$ fixes a point of $X$. Our proofs use the Hurwitz genus formula and the Deuring Shafarevich formula together with a few deep results from finite group theory characterizing finite simple groups whose Sylow $2$-subgroups have a cyclic subgroup of index $2$. We also point out some connections with the Abhyankar conjecture and the Katz-Gabber covers.

In a projective plane $\Pi_{q}$ (not necessarily Desarguesian) of order $q$, a point subset $\mathcal{S}$ is saturating (or dense) if any point of $\Pi_{q}\setminus \mathcal{S}$ is collinear with two points in $\mathcal{S}$. Modifying an approach of [31], we proved the following upper bound on the smallest size $s(2,q)$ of a saturating set in $\Pi_{q}$: \begin{equation*} s(2,q)\leq \sqrt{(q+1)\left(3\ln q+\ln\ln q +\ln\frac{3}{4}\right)}+\sqrt{\frac{q}{3\ln q}}+3. \end{equation*} The bound holds for all q, not necessarily large. By using inductive constructions, upper bounds on the smallest size of a saturating set in the projective space $\mathrm{PG}(N,q)$ with even dimension $N$ are obtained. All the results are also stated in terms of linear covering codes., Comment: 14 pages, 34 references, 1 figure

We determine the full automorphism group of two recently constructed families $\tilde{\mathcal{S}}_q$ and $\tilde{\mathcal{R}}_q$ of maximal curves over finite fields. These curves are covers of the Suzuki and Ree curves, and are analogous to the Giulietti-Korchm\'aros cover of the Hermitian curve. We also show that $\tilde{\mathcal{S}}_q$ is not Galois covered by the Hermitian curve maximal over $\mathbb{F}_{q^4}$, and $\tilde{\mathcal{R}}_q$ is not Galois covered by the Hermitian curve maximal over $\mathbb{F}_{q^6}$. Finally, we compute the genera of many Galois subcovers of $\tilde{\mathcal{S}}_q$ and $\tilde{\mathcal{R}}_q$; this provides new genera for maximal curves.

We classify complete permutation polynomials of type $aX^{\frac{q^n-1}{q-1}+1}$ over the finite field with $q^n$ elements, for $n+1$ a prime and $n^4 < q$. For the case $n+1$ a power of the characteristic we study some known families. We also classify indecomposable exceptional polynomials of degree $8$ and $9$., Comment: 21 pages

We construct and describe the basic properties of a family of semifields in characteristic $2.$ The construction relies on the properties of projective polynomials over finite fields. We start by associating non-associative products to each such polynomial. The resulting presemifields form the degenerate case of our family. They are isotopic to the Knuth semifields which are quadratic over left and right nucleus. The non-degenerate members of our family display a very different behaviour. Their left and right nucleus agrees with the center, the middle nucleus is quadratic over the center. None of those semifields is isotopic or Knuth equivalent to a commutative semifield. As a by-product we obtain the complete taxonomy of the characteristic $2$ semifields which are quadratic over the middle nucleus, bi-quadratic over the left and right nucleus and not isotopic to twisted fields. This includes {determining} when two such semifields are isotopic and the order of the autotopism group., Comment: 23 pages

Explicit constructions of infinite families of scattered ${\mathbb F}_q$--linear sets in $PG(r-1,q^t)$ of maximal rank $\frac{rt}2$, for $t$ even, are provided. When $q=2$ and $r$ is odd, these linear sets correspond to complete caps in $AG(r,2^t)$ fixed by a translation group of size $2^{\frac{rt}2}$. The doubling construction applied to such caps gives complete caps in $AG(r+1,2^t)$ of size $2^{\frac{rt}2+1}$. For Galois spaces of even dimension greater than $2$ and even square order, this solves the long-standing problem of establishing whether the theoretical lower bound for the size of a complete cap is substantially sharp.

For each prime power $\ell$ the plane curve $\mathcal X_\ell$ with equation $Y^{\ell^2-\ell+1}=X^{\ell^2}-X$ is maximal over $\mathbb{F}_{\ell^6}$. Garcia and Stichtenoth in 2006 proved that $\mathcal X_3$ is not Galois covered by the Hermitian curve and raised the same question for $\mathcal X_\ell$ with $\ell>3$; in this paper we show that $\mathcal X_\ell$ is not Galois covered by the Hermitian curve for any $\ell>3$. Analogously, Duursma and Mak proved that the generalized GK curve $\mathcal C_{\ell^n}$ over $\mathbb{F}_{\ell^{2n}}$ is not a quotient of the Hermitian curve for $\ell>2$ and $n\ge 5$, leaving the case $\ell=2$ open; here we show that $\mathcal C_{2^n}$ is not Galois covered by the Hermitian curve over $\mathbb{F}_{2^{2n}}$ for $n\geq5$.

Some families of constant dimension codes arising from Riemann-Roch spaces associated to particular divisors of a curve $\X$ are constructed. These families are generalizations of the one constructed by Hansen, Comment: 10 pages

Let $S$ be a $p$-subgroup of the $\mathbb K$-automorphism group $Aut(\mathcal X)$ of an algebraic curve $\mathcal X$ of genus $g\ge 2$ and $p$-rank $\gamma$ defined over an algebraically closed field $\mathbb{K}$ of characteristic $p\geq 3$. Nakajima proved that if $\gamma \ge 2$ then $|S|\leq \textstyle\frac{p}{p-2}(g-1)$. If equality holds, $\mathcal X$ is a Nakajima extremal curve. We prove that if $$|S|>\textstyle\frac{p^2}{p^2-p-1}(g-1)$$ then one of the following cases occurs: (i) $\gamma=0$ and the extension $\mathbb K(\mathcal X)|\mathbb K(\mathcal X)^S$ completely ramifies at a unique place, and does not ramify elsewhere. (ii) $|S|=p$, and $\mathcal X$ is an ordinary curve of genus $g=p-1$. (iii) $\mathcal X$ is an ordinary, Nakajima extremal curve, and $\mathbb K(\mathcal X)$ is an unramified Galois extension of a function field of a curve given in (ii). There are exactly $p-1$ such Galois extensions. Moreover, if some of them is an abelian extension then $S$ has maximal nilpotency class. The full $\mathbb{K}$-automorphism group of any Nakajima extremal curve is determined, and several infinite families of Nakajima extremal curves are constructed by using their pro-$p$ fundamental groups.

Multiple coverings of the farthest-off points ($(R,\mu)$-MCF codes) and the corresponding $(\rho,\mu)$-saturating sets in projective spaces $PG(N,q)$ are considered. We propose and develop some methods which allow us to obtain new small $(1,\mu)$-saturating sets and short $(2,\mu)$-MCF codes with $\mu$-density either equal to 1 (optimal saturating sets and almost perfect MCF-codes) or close to 1 (roughly $1+1/cq$, $c\ge1$). In particular, we provide new algebraic constructions and some bounds. Also, we classify minimal and optimal $(1,\mu)$-saturating sets in $PG(2,q)$, $q$ small., Comment: 30 pages, 3 figures

In a projective plane $\Pi _{q}$ (not necessarily Desarguesian) of order $q,$ a point subset $S$ is saturating (or dense) if any point of $\Pi _{q}\setminus S$ is collinear with two points in$~S$. Using probabilistic methods, the following upper bound on the smallest size $ s(2,q)$ of a saturating set in $\Pi _{q}$ is proved: \begin{equation*} s(2,q)\leq 2\sqrt{(q+1)\ln (q+1)}+2\thicksim 2\sqrt{q\ln q}. \end{equation*} We also show that for any constant $c\ge 1$ a random point set of size $k$ in $\Pi _{q}$ with $ 2c\sqrt{(q+1)\ln(q+1)}+2\le k<\frac{q^{2}-1}{q+2}\thicksim q$ is a saturating set with probability greater than $1-1/(q+1)^{2c^{2}-2}.$ Our probabilistic approach is also applied to multiple saturating sets. A point set $S\subset \Pi_{q}$ is $(1,\mu)$-saturating if for every point $Q$ of $\Pi _{q}\setminus S$ the number of secants of $S$ through $Q$ is at least $\mu $, counted with multiplicity. The multiplicity of a secant $ \ell $ is computed as ${\binom{{\#(\ell \,\cap S)}}{{2}}}.$ The following upper bound on the smallest size $s_{\mu }(2,q)$ of a $(1,\mu)$-saturating set in $\Pi_{q}$ is proved: \begin{equation*} s_{\mu }(2,q)\leq 2(\mu +1)\sqrt{(q+1)\ln (q+1)}+2\thicksim 2(\mu +1)\sqrt{ q\ln q}\,\text{ for }\,2\leq \mu \leq \sqrt{q}. \end{equation*} By using inductive constructions, upper bounds on the smallest size of a saturating set (as well as on a $(1,\mu)$-saturating set) in the projective space $PG(N,q)$ are obtained. All the results are also stated in terms of linear covering codes., Comment: 15 pages, 24 references, misprints are corrected, Sections 3-5 and some references are added

A finite graph $\Gamma$ is called $G$-symmetric if $G$ is a group of automorphisms of $\Gamma$ which is transitive on the set of ordered pairs of adjacent vertices of $\Gamma$. We study a family of symmetric graphs, called the unitary graphs, whose vertices are flags of the Hermitian unital and whose adjacency relations are determined by certain elements of the underlying finite fields. Such graphs admit the unitary groups as groups of automorphisms, and they play a significant role in the classification of a family of symmetric graphs with complete quotients such that an associated incidence structure is a doubly point-transitive linear space. We give this classification in the paper and also investigate combinatorial properties of the unitary graphs.

For every $q=n^3$ with $n$ a prime power greater than $2$, the GK-curve is an $\mathbb F_{q^2}$-maximal curve that is not $\mathbb F_{q^2}$-covered by the Hermitian curve. In this paper some Galois subcovers of the GK curve are investigated. We describe explicit equations for some families of quotients of the GK-curve. New values in the spectrum of genera of $\mathbb F_{q^2}$-maximal curves are obtained. Finally, infinitely many further examples of maximal curves that cannot be Galois covered by the Hermitian curve are provided.

Let $S$ be a $p$-subgroup of the $\K$-automorphism group $\aut(\cX)$ of an algebraic curve $\cX$ of genus $\gg\ge 2$ and $p$-rank $\gamma$ defined over an algebraically closed field $\mathbb{K}$ of characteristic $p\geq 3$.In this paper we prove that if $|S|>2(\gg-1)$ then one of the following cases occurs. \begin{itemize} \item[(i)] $\gamma=0$ and the extension $\K(\cX)/\K(\cX)^S$ completely ramifies at a unique place, and does not ramify elsewhere. \item[(ii)] $\gamma>0$, $p=3$, $\cX$ is a general curve, $S$ attains the Nakajima's upper bound $3(\gamma-1)$ and $\K(\cX)$ is an unramified Galois extension of the function field of a general curve of genus $2$ with equation $Y^2=cX^6+X^4+X^2+1$ where $c\in\K^*$. \end{itemize} Case (i) was investigated by Stichtenoth, Lehr, Matignon, and Rocher.

Tables of the currently known parameters of symmetric configurations are given. Formulas for parameters of the known infinite families of symmetric configurations are presented as well. The results of the recent paper [18] are used. This work can be viewed as an appendix to [18], in the sense that the tables given here cover a much larger set of parameters., Comment: 38 pages, 7 tables, 61 references; data in tables are updated, references are added, connections with new references are discussed; this paper develops the topic of arXiv:1203.0709 using new methods giving rise to new results

Small complete arcs and caps in Galois spaces over finite fields $\fq$ with characteristic greater than 3 are constructed from cubic curves with an isolated double point. For $m$ a divisor of $q+1$, complete plane arcs of size approximately $q/m$ are obtained, provided that $(m,6)=1$ and $m<\{1}{4}q^{1/4}$. If in addition $m=m_1m_2$ with $(m_1,m_2)=1$, then complete caps of size approximately $\{m_1+m_2}{m}q^{N/2}$ in affine spaces of dimension $N\equiv 0 \pmod 4$ are constructed., Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1305.3019

Bicovering arcs in Galois affine planes of odd order are a powerful tool for constructing complete caps in spaces of higher dimensions. In this paper we investigate whether some arcs contained in nodal cubic curves are bicovering. For $m_1$, $m_2$ coprime divisors of $q-1$, bicovering arcs in $AG(2,q)$ of size $k\le (q-1)\frac{m_1+m_2}{m_1m_2}$ are obtained, provided that $(m_1m_2,6)=1$ and $m_1m_2<\sqrt[4]{q}/3.5$. Such arcs produce complete caps of size $kq^{(N-2)/2}$ in affine spaces of dimension $N\equiv 0 \pmod 4$. For infinitely many $q$'s these caps are the smallest known complete caps in $AG(N,q)$, $N \equiv 0 \pmod 4$.

The spectrum of possible parameters of symmetric configurations is investigated. We both survey known constructions and results, and propose some new construction methods. Many new parameters are obtained, in particular for cyclic symmetric configurations, which are equivalent to deficient cyclic difference sets. Both Golomb rulers and modular Golomb rulers are a key tool in our investigation. Several new upper bounds on the minimum integer E(k) such that for each v >= E(k) there exists a symmetric configuration v_{k} are obtained. Upper bounds of the same type are provided for cyclic symmetric configurations. From the standpoint of applications, it should be noted that our results extend the range of possible parameters of LDPC codes, generalized LDPC codes, and quasi-cyclic LDPC codes., Comment: 39 pages, 8 tables

For $q=p^r$ with a prime $p\ge 7$ such that $q \equiv 1$ or $19\pmod {30},$ the desarguesian projective plane $PG(2,q)$ of order $q$ has a unique conjugacy class of projectivity groups isomorphic to the alternating group $A_6$ of degree 6. For a projectivity group $\Gamma\cong A_6$ of $PG(2,q)$, we investigate the geometric properties of the (unique) $\Gamma$-orbit $\mathcal{O}$ of size 90 such that the 1-point stabilizer of $\Gamma$ in $\mathcal O$ is a cyclic group of order 4. Here $\mathcal O$ lies either in $PG(2,q)$ or in $PG(2,q^2)$ according as 3 is a square or a non-square element in $GF(q)$. We show that if $q\geq 349$ and $q\neq 421$, then $\mathcal O$ is a 90-arc, which turns out to be complete for $q=349, 409, 529, 601,661.$ Interestingly, $\mathcal O$ is the smallest known complete arc in $PG(2,601)$ and in $PG(2,661).$ Computations are carried out by MAGMA., Comment: 10 pages

Let K be an algebraically closed field of characteristic 2, and let X be a curve over K of genus g>1 and 2-rank r>0. For 2-subgroups S of the K-automorphism group Aut(X) of X, the Nakajima bound is |S| < 4g-3. For every g=2^h+1>8, we construct a curve X attaining the Nakajima bound and determine its relevant properties: X is a bielliptic curve with r=g, and its K-automorphism group has a dihedral K-automorphism group of order 4(g-1) which fixes no point in X. Moreover, we provide a classification of 2-groups S of K-automorphisms not fixing a point of X and such that |S|> 2g-1.

We propose geometrical methods for constructing square 01-matrices with the same number n of units in every row and column, and such that any two rows of the matrix contain at most one unit in common. These matrices are equivalent to n-regular bipartite graphs without 4-cycles, and therefore can be used for the construction of efficient bipartite-graph codes such that both the classes of its vertices are associated with local constraints. We significantly extend the region of parameters m,n for which there exist an n-regular bipartite graph with 2m vertices and without 4-cycles. In that way we essentially increase the region of lengths and rates of the corresponding bipartite-graph codes. Many new matrices are either circulant or consist of circulant submatrices: this provides code parity-check matrices consisting of circulant submatrices, and hence quasi-cyclic bipartite-graph codes with simple implementation., Comment: 27 pages

For every $q=l^3$ with $l$ a prime power greater than 2, the GK curve $X$ is an $F_{q^2}$-maximal curve that is not $F_{q^2}$-covered by any $F_{q^2}$-maximal Deligne-Lusztig curve. Interestingly, $X$ has a very large $F_{q^2}$-automorphism group with respect to its genus. In this paper we compute the genera of a large variety of curves that are Galois-covered by the GK curve, thus providing several new values in the spectrum of genera of $F_{q^2}$-maximal curves.

In this paper we solve three open problems on maximal curves with Frobenius dimension 3. In particular, we prove the existence of a maximal curve with order sequence (0,1,3,q).

Algebraic Geometric codes associated to a recently discovered class of maximal curves are investigated. As a result, some linear codes with better parameters with respect to the previously known ones are discovered, and 70 improvements on MinT's tables are obtained.

Let A_{R,q} denote a family of covering codes, in which the covering radius R and the size q of the underlying Galois field are fixed, while the code length tends to infinity. In this paper, infinite sets of families A_{R,q}, where R is fixed but q ranges over an infinite set of prime powers are considered, and the dependence on q of the asymptotic covering densities of A_{R,q} is investigated. It turns out that for the upper limit of the covering density of A_{R,q}, the best possibility is O(q). The main achievement of the present paper is the construction of asymptotic optimal infinite sets of families A_{R,q} for any covering radius R >= 2. We first showed that for a given R, to obtain optimal infinite sets of families it is enough to construct R infinite families A_{R,q}^{(0)},A_{R,q}^{(1)},...,A_{R,q}^{(R-1)} such that, for all u >= u_{0}, the family A_{R,q}^{(v)} contains codes of codimension r_{u}=Ru+v and length f_{q}^{v}(r_{u}) where f_{q}^{v}(r)=O(q^{(r-R)/R) and u_{0} is a constant. Then, we were able to construct the needed families A_{R,q}^{(v)} for any covering radius R >= 2, with q ranging over the (infinite) set of R-th powers. For each of these families A_{R,q}^{(v)}, the lower limit of the covering density is bounded from above by a constant independent of q.

Some new families of small complete caps in $PG(N,q)$, $q$ even, are described. By using inductive arguments, the problem of the construction of small complete caps in projective spaces of arbitrary dimensions is reduced to the same problem in the plane. The caps constructed in this paper provide an improvement on the currently known upper bounds on the size of the smallest complete cap in $PG(N,q),$ $N\geq 4,$ for all $q\geq 2^{3}.$ In particular, substantial improvements are obtained for infinite values of $q$ square, including $ q=2^{2Cm},$ $C\geq 5,$ $m\geq 3;$ for $q=2^{Cm},$ $C\geq 5,$ $m\geq 9,$ with $C,m$ odd; and for all $q\leq 2^{18}.$

We determine the semi-regular subgroups of the 2-transitive permutation groups PGL(2,n), PSL(2,n), PGU(3,n), PSU(3,n), Sz(n) and Ree(n) with n a suitable power of a prime number p.

We fill up a gap in Henn's proof concerning large automorphism groups of function fields of degree 1 over an algebraically closed field of positive characteristic.

In positive characteristic, algebraic curves can have many more automorphisms than expected from the classical Hurwitz's bound. There even exist algebraic curves of arbitrary high genus g with more than 16g^4 automorphisms. It has been observed on many occasions that the most anomalous examples invariably have zero p-rank. In this paper, the K-automorphism group Aut(X) of a zero 2-rank algebraic curve X defined over an algebraically closed field K of characteristic 2 is investigated. The main result is that if the curve has genus g greater than or equal to 2, and |Aut(X)|>24g^2, then Aut(X) has a fixed point on X, apart from few exceptions. In the exceptional cases the possibilities for Aut(X) and g are determined.

A new family of maximal curves over a finite field is presented and some of their properties are investigated.

In his investigation on large $K$-automorphism groups of an algebraic curve, Stichtenoth obtained an upper bound on the order of the first ramification group of an algebraic curve $\cX$ defined over an algebraically closed field of characteristic $p$. Stichtenoth's bound has raised the problem of classifying all $\K$-automorphism groups $G$ of $\cX$ with the following property: There is a point $P\in \cX$ for which \begin{equation} |G_P^{(1)}|>\frac{p}{p-1}g. \end{equation} Such a classification is obtained here by proving Theorem 1.3

All sets of lines providing a partition of the set of internal points to a conic C in PG(2,q), q odd, are determined. There exist only three such linesets up to projectivities, namely the set of all nontangent lines to C through an external point to C, the set of all nontangent lines to C through a point in C, and, for square q, the set of all nontangent lines to C belonging to a Baer subplane with at least 5 common points with C. This classification theorem is the analogous of a classical result by Segre and Korchmaros characterizing the pencil of lines through an internal point to C as the unique set of lines, up to projectivities, which provides a partition of the set of all noninternal points to C. However, the proof is not analogous, since it does not rely on the famous Lemma of Tangents of Segre. The main tools in the present paper are certain partitions in conics of the set of all internal points to C, together with some recent combinatorial characterizations of blocking sets of non-secant lines, and of blocking sets of external lines.

A k-arc in a Dearguesian projective plane whose secants meet some external line in k-1 points is said to be hyperfocused. Hyperfocused arcs are investigated in connection with a secret sharing scheme based on geometry due to Simmons. In this paper it is shown that point orbits under suitable groups of elations are hyperfocused arcs with the significant property of being contained neither in a hyperoval, nor in a proper subplane. Also, the concept of generalized hyperfocused arc, i.e. an arc whose secants admit a blocking set of minimum size, is introduced: a construction method is provided, together with the classification for size up to 10.

The number of rational points of a plane non-singular algebraic curve X defined over a finite field is computed, provided that the generic point of X is not an inflexion and that X is Frobenius non-classical with respect to conics., Comment: Latex2e, 8 pages

The main conjecture on maximum distance separable (MDS) codes states that, execpt for some special cases, the maximum length of a q-ary linear MDS code is q+1. This conjecture does not hold true for near maximum distance separable codes because of the existence of q-ary near MDS elliptic codes having length bigger than q+1. An interesting related question is whether a near MDS elliptic code can be extended to a longer near MDS code. Our results are some non-extendability results and an alternative and simpler construction for certain known near MDS elliptic codes., Comment: Latex 2e, 13 pages