Primitive spaces of matrices with upper rank two over the field with two elements

Abstract

For fields with more than $2$ elements, the classification of the vector spaces of matrices with rank at most $2$ is already known. In this work, we complete that classification for the field $\mathbb{F}_2$. We apply the results to obtain the classification of triples of locally linearly dependent operators over $\mathbb{F}_2$, the classification of the $3$-dimensional subspaces of $\text{M}_3(\mathbb{F}_2)$ in which no matrix has a non-zero eigenvalue, and the classification of the $3$-dimensional affine spaces that are included in the general linear group $\text{GL}_3(\mathbb{F}_2)$.