Independence of axioms for fourgonal families

We show, by means of (counter)examples, that the axioms for fourgonal families (as used to construct elation generalized quadrangles) are independent. Received 22 September 2000.     

Generalized Quadrangles with a Spread of Symmetry

We present a common construction for some known infinite classes of generalized quadrangles. Whether this construction yields other (unknown) generalized quadrangles is an open problem. The class of generalized quadrangles obtained this way is characterized in two different ways. On the one hand, they are exactly the generalized quadrangles having a spread of symmetry. On the other hand, they can be characterized in terms of the group of projectivities with respect to a spread. We explore some properties of these generalized quadrangles. All these results can be applied to the theory of the glued near hexagons, a class of near hexagons introduced by the author in De Bruyn (1998) On near hexagons and spreads of generalized quadrangles, preprint.     

Affine Generalized Quadrangles – An Axiomatization

The complement of a geometric hyperplane of a generalized quadrangle is called an affine generalized quadrangle. Since a geometric hyperplane of a generalized quadrangle is either an ovoid or the perp of a point or a subquadrangle, there are three quite different classes of affine generalized quadrangles. The article proposes seven axioms (AQ1)–(AQ7) characterizing affine generalized quadrangles as point-line geometries. Certain subsets of the seven Axioms together with certain conditions distinguish what kind of hyperplane complement is realized. By just (AQ1)–(AQ6), finite affine generalized quadrangles are characterized completely.     

A generalized quadrangle of order (s, t) with center of transitivity is an elation quadrangle if s ≤ t

We show that a generalized quadrangle of order (s, t) with a center of transitivity is an elation generalized quadrangle if s ≤ t. In order to obtain this result, we generalize Frohardt’s result on Kantor’s conjecture from elation quadrangles to the more general case of quadrangles with a center of transitivity.      

Non-abelian extensions of Lie 2-algebras

In this paper,we give the notion of derivations of Lie 2-algebras using explicit formulas,and construct the associated derivation Lie 3-algebra.We prove that isomorphism classes of non-abelian extensions of Lie 2-algebras are classified by equivalence classes of morphisms from a Lie 2-algebra to a derivation Lie 3-algebra.     

Factor orbit equivalence of compact group extensions and classification of finite extensions of ergodic automorphisms

In §§1–5, we classifyn-point extensions of ergodic automorphisms up to factor orbit-equivalence (which is the natural analogue of factor isomorphism). This classification is in terms of conjugacy classes of subgroups of the symmetric group onn points, and parallels D. Rudolph’s classification ofn-point extensions of Bernoulli shifts up to factor isomorphism. In §6, we give another proof of A. Fieldsteel’s theorem on factor orbit-equivalence of compact group extensions.     

Central aspects of skew translation quadrangles, 1

Modulo a combination of duality, translation duality or Payne integration, every known finite generalized quadrangle except for the Hermitian quadrangles \(\mathcal {H}(4,q^2)\), is an elation generalized quadrangle for which the elation point is a center of symmetry—that is, is a “skew translation generalized quadrangle” (STGQ). In this series of papers, we classify and characterize STGQs. In the first installment of the series, (1) we obtain the rather surprising result that any skew translation quadrangle of finite odd order (s, s) is a symplectic quadrangle; (2) we determine all finite skew translation quadrangles with distinct elation groups (a problem posed by Payne in a less general setting); (3) we develop a structure theory for root elations of skew translation quadrangles which will also be used in further parts, and which essentially tells us that a very general class of skew translation quadrangles admits the theoretical maximal number of root elations for each member, and hence, all members are “central” (the main property needed to control STGQs, as which will be shown throughout); and (4) we show that finite “generic STGQs,” a class of STGQs which generalizes the class of the previous item (but does not contain it by definition), have the expected parameters. We conjecture that the classes of (3) and (4) contain all STGQs.     

Baer sums for a natural class of monoid extensions

Semigroup Forum - It is well known that the set of isomorphism classes of extensions of groups with abelian kernel is characterized by the second cohomology group. In this paper we generalise this...     

Domesticity in Generalized Quadrangles

An automorphism of a generalized quadrangle is called domestic if it maps no chamber, which is here an incident point-line pair, to an opposite chamber. We call it point-domestic if it maps no point to an opposite one and line-domestic if it maps no line to an opposite one. It is clear that a duality in a generalized quadrangle is always point-domestic and linedomestic. In this paper, we classify all domestic automorphisms of generalized quadrangles. Besides three exceptional cases occurring in the small quadrangles with orders (2, 2), (2, 4), and (3, 5), all domestic collineations are either point-domestic or line-domestic. Up to duality, they fall into one of three classes: Either they are central collineations, or they fix an ovoid, or they fix a large full subquadrangle. Remarkably, the three exceptional domestic collineatons in the small quadrangles mentioned above all have order 4.     

Generalized quadrangles admitting a sharply transitive Heisenberg group

All known finite generalized quadrangles that admit an automorphism group acting sharply transitively on their point set arise by Payne derivation from thick elation generalized quadrangles of order s with a regular point. In these examples only two groups occur: elementary abelian groups of even order and odd order Heisenberg groups of dimension 3. In [2] the authors determined all generalized quadrangles admitting an abelian group with a sharply transitive point action. Here, we classify thick finite generalized quadrangles admitting an odd order Heisenberg group of dimension 3 acting sharply transitively on the points. In fact our more general result comes close to a complete solution of classifying odd order Singer p-groups.      

Covers of generalized quadrangles, 2. Kantor-Knuth covers and embedded ovoids

In this paper, which is a sequel to [12], we proceed with our study of covers and decomposition laws for geometries related to generalized quadrangles. In particular, we obtain a higher decomposition law for all Kantor-Knuth generalized quadrangles which generalizes one of the main results in [12]. In a second part of the paper, we study the set of all Kantor-Knuth ovoids (with given parameter) in a fixed finite parabolic quadrangle, and relate this set to embeddings of parabolic quadrangles into Kantor-Knuth quadrangles. This point of view gives rise to an answer of a question posed in [11].     

Isomorphism classes of finite dimensional connected Hopf algebras in positive characteristic

We classify all finite-dimensional connected Hopf algebras with large abelian primitive spaces. We show that they are Hopf algebra extensions of restricted enveloping algebras of certain restricted Lie algebras. For any abelian matched pair associated with these extensions, we construct a cohomology group, which classifies all the extensions up to equivalence. Moreover, we present a 1–1 correspondence between the isomorphism classes and a group quotient of the cohomology group deleting some exceptional points, where the group respects the automorphisms of the abelian matched pair and the exceptional points represent those restricted Lie algebra extensions.     

Group algebras of generalized primary groups

A number of the known results concerning group algebras of primary groups carry over to group algebras of generalized primary groups. In particular, we show that the group algebra LG of a generalized primary (relative to the prime p) group G over the ring L, in which the element p is not invertible, determines, to within an isomorphism, a basis subgroup of the generalized primary group G. In addition, we indicate two classes of composite abelian groups which are determined, to within an isomorphism, by their group algebras over the ring L.     

Extending generalized quadrangles

Extended generalized quadrangles (EGQ) are the geometries associated with the Buekenhout diagram , where is the diagram for generalized quadrangles. In this paper we survey the two cases where an (EGQ) is either a 2-design or a locally polar space of polar rank 2.     

On the second cohomology group in semi-abelian categories

We develop some new aspects of cohomology in the context of semi-abelian categories: we establish a Hochschild-Serre 5-term exact sequence extending the classical one for groups and Lie algebras; we prove that an object is perfect if and only if it admits a universal central extension; we show how the second Barr-Beck cohomology group classifies isomorphism classes of central extensions; we prove a universal coefficient theorem to explain the relationship with homology.     

Ovoids of PG(3,q), q Even, with a Conic Section

It is shown that if a plane of PG(3,q), q even, meets an ovoidin a conic, then the ovoid must be an elliptic quadric. Thisis proved by using the generalized quadrangles T₂(C) (C a conic),W(q) and the isomorphism between them to show that every secantplane section of the ovoid must be a conic. The result thenfollows from a well-known theorem of Barlotti.     

Maximal Inverse Subsemigroups of the Symmetric Inverse Semigroup on a Finite-Dimensional Vector Space

The notion of “near isomorphism” for torsion-free Abelian groups of finite rank is well known. In particular, this concept turned out to be of importance for classifying almost completely decomposable groups. We extend near isomorphism to classes of torsion-free Abelian groups of infinite rank which are unions of bcd–groups, this is to say unions of groups which are bounded essential extensions of completely decomposable groups. Moreover, we show that nearly isomorphic groups of this class also have nearly isomorphic endomorphism rings considered as Abelian groups.     

Regular groups on generalized quadrangles and nonabelian difference sets with multiplier -1

This is a first approach to the study of regular generalized quadrangles (i.e. generalized quadrangles with an automorphism group sharply 1-transitive on points). In this paper we point out how the problem is connected to the theory of difference sets with multiplier-1. First, some of the results in [3] on difference sets with multiplier-1 are extended to the nonabelian case; then, these new results on difference sets are used to prove nonexistence theorems for regular GQs of even order s=t.Dedicated to Otto Wagner on the occasion of his 60th birthday     

On a Class of Non-commutative Imprimitive Association Schemes of Rank 6

Many facts about group theory can be generalized to the context of the theory of association schemes. In particular, association schemes with fewer than 6 elements are all commutative. While there is a nonabelian group with 6 elements which is unique up to isomorphism, there are infinitely many isomorphism classes of non-commutative association schemes with 6 elements. All examples previously known to us are imprimitive, and fall into three classes which are reasonably well understood. In this paper, we construct a fourth class of noncommutative, imprimitive association schemes of rank 6.     

Entropy theory for sofic groupoids I: The foundations

This is the first part in a series in which sofic entropy theory is generalized to class-bijective extensions of sofic groupoids. Here we define topological and measure entropy and prove invariance. We also establish the variational principle, compute the entropy of Bernoulli shift actions and answer a question of Benjy Weiss pertaining to the isomorphism problem for non-free Bernoulli shifts. The proofs are independent of previous literature.