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Divisible design graphs were introduced in 2011 by Haemers, Kharaghani and Meulenberg. In this paper, we introduce the notion of $q$-analogs of divisible design graphs and show that all $q$-analogs of divisible design graphs come from spreads, and are actually $q$-analogs of strongly regular graphs. Deza graphs were introduced by Erickson, Fernando, Haemers and Hardy in 1999. In this paper, we introduce $q$-analogs of Deza graphs. Further, we determine possible parameters, give examples of $q$-analogs of Deza graphs and characterize all non-strongly regular $q$-analogs of Deza graphs with the smallest parameters., Comment: 17 pages

An infinite family of $(q^2+q+1)$-ovoids of $\mathcal{Q}^+(7,q)$, $q\equiv 1\pmod{3}$, admitting the group $\mathrm{PGL}(3,q)$, is constructed. The main tool is the general theory of generalized hexagons., Comment: 9 pages

A $4$-general set in ${\rm PG}(n,q)$ is a set of points of ${\rm PG}(n,q)$ spanning the whole ${\rm PG}(n,q)$ and such that no four of them are on a plane. Such a pointset is said to be complete if it is not contained in a larger $4$-general set of ${\rm PG}(n, q)$. In this paper upper and lower bounds for the size of the largest and the smallest complete $4$-general set in ${\rm PG}(n,q)$, respectively, are investigated. Complete $4$-general sets in ${\rm PG}(n,q)$, $q \in \{3,4\}$, whose size is close to the theoretical upper bound are provided. Further results are also presented, including a description of the complete $4$-general sets in projective spaces of small dimension over small fields and the construction of a transitive $4$-general set of size $3(q + 1)$ in ${\rm PG}(5, q)$, $q \equiv 1 \pmod{3}$.

The complete classification of the orbits on subspaces under the action of the projective stabiliser of (classical) algebraic varieties is a challenging task, and few classifications are complete. We focus on a particular action of $\PGL(2,q^2)$ (and $\PSL(2,q^2)$) arising from the Hermitian Veronese curve in $\PG(3, q^2)$, a maximal rational curve embedded on a smooth Hermitian surface with some fascinating properties. The study of its orbits leads to a new construction of quasi-Hermitian surfaces: sets of points with the same combinatorial and geometric properties as a non-degenerate Hermitian surface.

In $\mathrm{PG}(3, q)$, $q = 2^n$, $n \ge 3$, let ${\cal A} = \{(1,t,t^{2^h},t^{2^h+1}) \mid t \in \mathbb{F}_q\} \cup \{(0,0,0,1)\}$, with $\mathrm{gcd}(n,h) = 1$, be a $(q+1)$-arc and let $G_h \simeq \mathrm{PGL}(2, q)$ be the stabilizer of $\cal A$ in $\mathrm{PGL}(4, q)$. The $G_h$-orbits on points, lines and planes of $\mathrm{PG}(3, q)$, together with the point-plane incidence matrix with respect to the $G_h$-orbits on points and planes of $\mathrm{PG}(3, q)$ are determined. The point-line incidence matrix with respect to the $G_1$-orbits on points and lines of $\mathrm{PG}(3, q)$ is also considered. In particular, for a line $\ell$ belonging to a given line $G_1$-orbits, say $\cal L$, the point $G_1$-orbit distribution of $\ell$ is either explicitly computed or it is shown to depend on the number of elements $x$ in $\mathbb{F}_q$ (or in a subset of $\mathbb{F}_q$) such that $\mathrm{Tr}_{q|2}(g(x)) = 0$, where $g$ is an $\mathbb{F}_q$-map determined by $\cal L$.

In this paper we are concerned with $m$-ovoids of the symplectic polar space ${\cal W}(2n+1, q)$, $q$ even. In particular we show the existence of an elliptic quadric of ${\rm PG}(2n+1, q)$ not polarizing to ${\cal W}(2n+1, q)$ forming a $\left(\frac{q^n-1}{q-1}\right)$-ovoid of ${\cal W}(2n+1, q)$. A further class of $(q+1)$-ovoids of ${\cal W}(5, q)$ is exhibited. It arises by glueing together two orbits of a subgroup of ${\rm PSp}(6, q)$ isomorphic to ${\rm PSL}(2, q^2)$. We also show that the obtained $m$-ovoids do not fall in any of the examples known so far in the literature. Moreover, a computer classification of the $m$-ovoids of ${\cal W}(5, 2)$ is acquired. It turns out that ${\cal W}(5, 2)$ has $m$-ovoids if and only if $m = 3$ and that there are exactly three pairwise non-isomorphic examples. The first example comes from an elliptic quadric ${\cal Q}^-(5, 2)$ polarizing to ${\cal W}(5, 2)$, whereas the other two are the $3$-ovoids previously mentioned.

In this paper we provide constructive lower bounds on the sizes of the largest partial ovoids of the symplectic polar spaces ${\cal W}(3, q)$, $q$ odd square, $q \not\equiv 0 \pmod{3}$, ${\cal W}(5, q)$ and of the Hermitian polar spaces ${\cal H}(4, q^2)$, $q$ even or $q$ odd square, $q \not\equiv 0 \pmod{3}$, ${\cal H}(6, q^2)$, ${\cal H}(8, q^2)$.

An $m$-ovoid of a finite polar space $\mathcal{P}$ is a set $\mathcal{O}$ of points such that every maximal subspace of $\mathcal{P}$ contains exactly $m$ points of $\mathcal{O}$. In the case when $\mathcal{P}$ is an elliptic quadric $\mathcal{Q}^-(2r+1, q)$ of rank $r$ in $\mathbb{F}_q^{2r+2}$, we prove that an $m$-ovoid exists only if $m$ satisfies a certain modular equality, which depends on $q$ and $r$. This condition rules out many of the possible values of $m$. Previously, only a lower bound on $m$ was known, which we slightly improve as a byproduct of our method. We also obtain a characterization of the $m$-ovoids of $\mathcal{Q}^{-}(7,q)$ for $q = 2$ and $(m, q) = (4, 3)$.

Several classes of near-MDS codes of ${\rm PG}(3,q)$ are described. They are obtained either by considering the intersection of an elliptic quadric ovoid and a Suzuki-Tits ovoid of a symplectic polar space ${\cal W}(3, q)$ or starting from the $q+1$ points of a twisted cubic of ${\rm PG}(3, q)$. As a by-product two classes of complete caps of ${\rm PG}(4,q)$ of size $2q^2-q \pm \sqrt{2q} + 2$ are exhibited.

In this paper we prove the existence of a complete cap of ${\rm PG}(4n+1, q)$ of size $2(q^{2n+1}-1)/(q-1)$, for each prime power $q>2$. It is obtained by projecting two disjoint Veronese varieties of ${\rm PG}(2n^2+3n, q)$ from a suitable $(2n^2-n-2)$-dimensional projective space. This shows that the trivial lower bound for the size of the smallest complete cap of ${\rm PG}(4n+1, q)$ is essentially sharp.

We provide a new family of $K_k$-free pseudorandom graphs with edge density $\Theta(n^{-1/(k-1)})$, matching a recent construction due to Bishnoi, Ihringer and Pepe. As in the former result, the idea is to use large subgraphs of polarity graphs, which are defined over a finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$. While their construction required $q$ to be odd, we will give the first construction with $q$ even., Comment: 8 pages

Let $\cal P$ be a finite classical polar space of rank $d$. An $m$-regular system with respect to $(k - 1)$-dimensional projective spaces of $\cal P$, $1 \le k \le d - 1$, is a set $\cal R$ of generators of $\cal P$ with the property that every $(k - 1)$-dimensional projective space of $\cal P$ lies on exactly $m$ generators of $\cal R$. Regular systems of polar spaces are investigated. Some non-existence results about certain 1-regular systems of polar spaces with low rank are proved and a procedure to obtain $m'$-regular systems from a given $m$-regular system is described. Finally, three different construction methods of regular systems w.r.t. points of various polar spaces are discussed.

Let $H(n, q^2)$ be a non-degenerate Hermitian variety of $PG(n, q^2)$, $n \ge 2$. Let NU$(n+1, q^2)$ be the graph whose vertices are the points of $PG(n, q^2) \setminus H(n, q^2)$ and two vertices $P_1$, $P_2$ are adjacent if the line joining $P_1$ and $P_2$ is tangent to $H(n, q^2)$. Then NU$(n + 1, q^2)$ is a strongly regular graph. In this paper we show that NU$(n + 1, q^2)$, $n \ne 3$, is not determined by its spectrum.

Let PG$(r, q)$ be the $r$-dimensional projective space over the finite field ${\rm GF}(q)$. A set $\cal X$ of points of PG$(r, q)$ is a cutting blocking set if for each hyperplane $\Pi$ of PG$(r, q)$ the set $\Pi \cap \cal X$ spans $\Pi$. Cutting blocking sets give rise to saturating sets and minimal linear codes and those having size as small as possible are of particular interest. We observe that from a cutting blocking set obtained by Fancsali and Sziklai, by using a set of pairwise disjoint lines, there arises a minimal linear code whose length grows linearly with respect to its dimension. We also provide two distinct constructions: a cutting blocking set of PG$(3, q^3)$ of size $3(q+1)(q^2+1)$ as a union of three pairwise disjoint $q$-order subgeometries and a cutting blocking set of PG$(5, q)$ of size $7(q+1)$ from seven lines of a Desarguesian line spread of PG$(5, q)$. In both cases the cutting blocking sets obtained are smaller than the known ones. As a byproduct we further improve on the upper bound of the smallest size of certain saturating sets and on the minimum length of a minimal $q$-ary linear code having dimension $4$ and $6$.

Let $\cal M$ denote the set ${\cal S}_{n, q}$ of $n \times n$ symmetric matrices with entries in ${\rm GF}(q)$ or the set ${\cal H}_{n, q^2}$ of $n \times n$ Hermitian matrices whose elements are in ${\rm GF}(q^2)$. Then $\cal M$ equipped with the rank distance $d_r$ is a metric space. We investigate $d$-codes in $({\cal M}, d_r)$ and construct $d$-codes whose sizes are larger than the corresponding additive bounds. In the Hermitian case, we show the existence of an $n$-code of $\cal M$, $n$ even and $n/2$ odd, of size $\left(3q^{n}-q^{n/2}\right)/2$, and of a $2$-code of size $q^6+ q(q-1)(q^4+q^2+1)/2$, for $n = 3$. In the symmetric case, if $n$ is odd or if $n$ and $q$ are both even, we provide better upper bound on the size of a $2$-code. In the case when $n = 3$ and $q>2$, a $2$-code of size $q^4+q^3+1$ is exhibited. This provides the first infinite family of $2$-codes of symmetric matrices whose size is larger than the largest possible additive $2$-code.

In the context of constant--dimension subspace codes, an important problem is to determine the largest possible size $A_q(n, d; k)$ of codes whose codewords are $k$-subspaces of $\mathbb{F}_q^n$ with minimum subspace distance $d$. Here in order to obtain improved constructions, we investigate several approaches to combine subspace codes. This allow us to present improvements on the lower bounds for constant--dimension subspace codes for many parameters, including $A_q(10, 4; 5)$, $A_q(12, 4; 4)$, $A_q(12, 6, 6)$ and $A_q(16, 4; 4)$., Comment: 17 pages; construction for A_(10,4;5) was flawed

In 2018 the first, Rukavina and the third author constructed with the aid of a computer the first example of a strongly regular graph $\Gamma$ with parameters (216, 40, 4, 8) and proved that it is the unique PSU(4,2)-invariant vertex-transitive graph on 216 vertices. In this paper, using the geometry of the Hermitian surface of PG(3, 4), we provide a computer-free proof of the existence of the graph $\Gamma$. The maximal cliques of $\Gamma$ are also determined.

We improve on the lower bound of the maximum number of planes of ${\rm PG}(8,q)$ mutually intersecting in at most one point leading to the following lower bound: ${\cal A}_q(9, 4; 3) \ge q^{12}+2q^8+2q^7+q^6+q^5+q^4+1$ for constant dimension subspace codes. We also construct two new non-equivalent $(6, (q^3-1)(q^2+q+1), 4; 3)_q$ constant dimension subspace orbit-codes.

A $q$-covering design $\mathbb{C}_q(n, k, r)$, $k \ge r$, is a collection $\mathcal X$ of $(k-1)$-spaces of $\mathrm{PG}(n-1, q)$ such that every $(r-1)$-space of $\mathrm{PG}(n-1, q)$ is contained in at least one element of $\mathcal X$ . Let $\mathcal{C}_q(n, k, r)$ denote the minimum number of $(k-1)$-spaces in a $q$-covering design $\mathbb{C}_q(n, k, r)$. In this paper improved upper bounds on $\mathcal{C}_q(2n, 3, 2)$, $n \ge 4$, $\mathcal{C}_q(3n + 8, 4, 2)$, $n \ge 0$, and $\mathcal{C}_q(2n,4,3)$, $n \ge 4$, are presented. The results are achieved by constructing the related $q$-covering designs.

In this paper we describe an infinite family of Cameron-Liebler line classes of ${\rm PG}(3,q)$ with parameter $(q^2 + 1)/2$, $q\equiv 1\pmod{4}$. The example obtained admits ${\rm PGL}(2,q)$ as an automorphism group and it is shown to be isomorphic to none of the infinite families known so far whenever $q \ge 9$.

We investigate subspace codes whose codewords are subspaces of ${\rm PG}(4,q)$ having non-constant dimension. In particular, examples of optimal mixed-dimension subspace codes are provided, showing that ${\cal A}_q(5,3) = 2(q^3+1)$.

Let $\perp$ be a unitary polarity of a finite projective plane $\pi$ of order $q^2$. The unitary polarity graph is the graph with vertex set the points of $\pi$ where two vertices $x$ and $y$ are adjacent if $x \in y^\perp$. We show that a triangle-free induced subgraph of the unitary polarity graph of an arbitrary projective plane has at most $(q^4+q)/2$ vertices. When $\pi$ is the Desarguesian projective plane $\mathrm{PG}(2,q^2)$ and $q$ is even, we show that the upper bound is asymptotically sharp, by providing an example on $q^4/2$ vertices. Finally, the case when $\pi$ is the Figueroa plane is discussed., Comment: 20 pages, accepted to the European Journal of Combinatorics

We investigate the independence number of two graphs constructed from a polarity of $\mathrm{PG}(2,q)$. For the first graph under consideration, the Erd\H{o}s-R\'enyi graph $ER_q$, we provide an improvement on the known lower bounds on its independence number. In the second part of the paper we consider the Erd\H{o}s-R\'enyi hypergraph of triangles $\mathcal{H}_q$. We determine the exact magnitude of the independence number of $\mathcal{H}_q$, $q$ even. This solves a problem posed by Mubayi and Williford.

Using the correspondence between quadrics of ${\rm PG}(2,q)$ and points of ${\rm PG}(5,q)$, a family of $(6,q^3(q^2-1)(q-1)/3+(q^2+1)(q^2+q+1),4;3)_q$ constant dimension subspace codes is constructed.

An $(r,M,2\delta;k)_q$ constant--dimension subspace code, $\delta >1$, is a collection $\cal C$ of $(k-1)$--dimensional projective subspaces of ${\rm PG(r-1,q)}$ such that every $(k-\delta)$--dimensional projective subspace of ${\rm PG(r-1,q)}$ is contained in at most a member of $\cal C$. Constant--dimension subspace codes gained recently lot of interest due to the work by Koetter and Kschischang, where they presented an application of such codes for error-correction in random network coding. Here a $(2n,M,4;n)_q$ constant--dimension subspace code is constructed, for every $n \ge 4$. The size of our codes is considerably larger than all known constructions so far, whenever $n > 4$. When $n=4$ a further improvement is provided by constructing an $(8,M,4;4)_q$ constant--dimension subspace code, with $M = q^{12}+q^2(q^2+1)^2(q^2+q+1)+1$.