Generalized polynomials and hyperplane functions in $(\mathbb{Z}\mathrm{/}{p}^k\mathbb{Z}{)}^n$

For $p$ prime, let ${\mathcal{H}}^n$ be the linear span of characteristic functions of hyperplanes in $(\mathbb{Z}\mathrm{/}{p}^k\mathbb{Z}{)}^n$. We establish new upper bounds on the dimension of ${\mathcal{H}}^n$ over $\mathbb{Z}\mathrm{/}p\mathbb{Z}$, or equivalently, on the rank of point-hyperplane incidence matrices in $(\mathbb{Z}\mathrm{/}{p}^k\mathbb{Z}{)}^n$ over $\mathbb{Z}\mathrm{/}p\mathbb{Z}$. Our proof is based on a variant of the polynomial method using binomial coefficients in $\mathbb{Z}\mathrm{/}{p}^k\mathbb{Z}$ as generalized polynomials. We also establish additional necessary conditions for a function on $(\mathbb{Z}\mathrm{/}{p}^k\mathbb{Z}{)}^n$ to be an element of ${\mathcal{H}}^n$.