Avoiding right angles and certain Hamming distances

Abstract

In this paper we show that the largest possible size of a subset of $\mathbb{F}_q^n$ avoiding right angles, that is, distinct vectors $x,y,z$ such that $x-z$ and $y-z$ are perpendicular to each other is at most $O(n^{q-2})$. This improves on the previously best known bound due to Naslund \cite{Naslund} and refutes a conjecture of Ge and Shangguan \cite{Ge}. A lower bound of $n^{q/3}$ is also presented. It is also shown that a subset of $\mathbb{F}_q^n$ avoiding triangles with all right angles can have size at most $O(n^{2q-2})$. Furthermore, asymptotically tight bounds are given for the largest possible size of a subset $A\subseteq \mathbb{F}_q^n$ for which $x-y$ is not self-orthogonal for any distinct $x,y\in A$. The exact answer is determined for $q=3$ and $n\equiv 2\pmod {3}$. Our methods can also be used to bound the maximum possible size of a binary code where no two codewords have Hamming distance divisible by a fixed prime $q$. Our lower- and upper bounds are asymptotically tight and both are sharp in infinitely many cases.