A dimension bound for constant rank subspaces of matrices over a finite field

Abstract

K be a field and let m and n be positive integers, where m does not exceed n. We say that a non-zero subspace of m x n matrices over K is a constant rank r subspace if each non-zero element of the subspace has rank r, where r is a positive integer that does not exceed m. We show in this paper that if K is a finite field containing at least r+1 elements, any constant rank r subspace of m x n matrices over K has dimension at most n.