Rational linear subspaces of hypersurfaces over finite fields

Abstract

Fix positive integers $n,r,d$. We show that if $n,r,d$ satisfy a suitable inequality, then any smooth hypersurface $X\subset \mathbb{P}^n$ defined over a finite field of characteristic $p$ sufficiently large contains a rational $r$-plane. Under more restrictive hypotheses on $n,r,d$ we show the same result without the assumption that $X$ is smooth or that $p$ is sufficiently large.