The minimum size of a finite subspace partition

AbstractA subspace partition of P=PG(n,q) is a collection of subspaces of P whose pairwise intersection is empty. Let σq(n,t) denote the minimum size (i.e., minimum number of subspaces) in a subspace partition of P in which the largest subspace has dimension t. In this paper, we determine the value of σq(n,t) for n⩽2t+2. Moreover, we use the value of σq(2t+2,t) to find the minimum size of a maximal partial t-spread in PG(3t+2,q)