Partitions of Desarguesian and Hughes planes into complete and incomplete arcs

The purpose of the present article is to obtain partitions of Desarguesian projective planes PG (2,q²), and of Hughes planes, too, into a number of q²+q+1 equicardinal arcs. In a previous paper we showed that PG(2,q²) is a disjoint union of arcs as above, which, as it turned out later, were also complete. We now prove that a similar partition can be obtained for the Hughes planes. We also partition Desarguesian and Hughes planes into incomplete arcs with the same number of points.     

A structure theory for two-dimensional translation planes of order q 2 that admit collineation groups of order q 2

This paper is devoted to the study of translation planes of order q ² and kernel GF(q) that admit a collineation group of order q ² in the linear translation complement. We give a representation of this group by a suitable set of matrices depending on some functions over GF(q). Using this representation we obtain several results concerning the existence and the collineation group of the plane.     

Fano subplanes in finite Figueroa planes

It has been conjectured that all non-desarguesian projective planes contain a Fano subplane. The Figueroa planes are a family of non-translation planes that are defined for both infinite orders and finite order q ³ for q > 2 a prime power. We will show that there is an embedded Fano subplane in the Figueroa plane of order q ³ for q any prime power.     

Non-classical polar unitals in finite Figueroa planes

The finite Figueroa planes are non-Desarguesian projective planes of order q ³ for all prime powers q > 2. These planes were constructed algebraically in 1982 by Figueroa, and Hering and Schaeffer, and synthetically in 1986 by Grundh?fer. All Figueroa planes of finite square order are shown to possess a unitary polarity by de Resmini and Hamilton in 1998, and hence admit unitals. Using the result of O??Nan in 1971 on the non-existence of his configuration in a classical unital, and the intrinsic characterization by Taylor in 1974 of the notion of perpendicularity induced by a unitary polarity in the classical plane (introduced by Dembowski and Hughes in 1965), we show that these Figueroa polar unitals do not satisfy a necessary condition, introduced by Wilbrink in 1983, for a unitary block design to be classical, and hence they are not classical.     

Ovoids and translation planes revisited

Kantor has previously described the translation planes which may be obtained by projecting sections of ovoids in ⁺(8, q)-spaces to ovoids in corresponding ⁺(6, q)-spaces. Since the Klein correspondence associates spreads in 4-dimensional vector spaces with ovoids in ⁺(6, q)-spaces, there are corresponding translation planes of order q ² and kernel containing GF(q). In this article, we revisit some of these translation planes and give some presentations of the spreads. Motivated by various properties of the planes, we study, in general, translation planes which admit certain homology groups and/or elation groups. In particular, we develop new constructions of projective planes of Lenz-Barlotti class II-1.Finally, we show how certain projective planes of order q ² of Lenz-Barlotti class II-1 may be considered equivalent to flocks of quadratic cones in PG(3, q).This work was partially supported by NSF grant DMS-8800843.     

Smooth Hughes planes are classical

We prove that the only compact projective Hughes planes which are smooth projective planes are the classical planes over the complex numbers \Bbb C \Bbb C , the quaternions \Bbb H \Bbb H , and the Caley numbers \Bbb O \Bbb O . As a by-product this shows that an 8-dimensional smooth projective plane which admits a collineation group of dimension d 3 17d \geq 17 is isomorphic to the quaternion projective plane P ₂\Bbb H {\cal P _2\Bbb H }. For topological compact projective planes this is true if d 3 19d \geq 19, and this bound is sharp.     

Disegni unitari nei piani di Hughes

Let H(q ²) be the Hughes plane on the regular nearfield of order q ₂ whose center is a field of order q. We construct in H(q ²) a unital of parameter q.

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Lavoro eseguito nell'ambito di attività di ricerca finanziate dal M.P.I. (fondi 60% e 40%).     

A Characterization of the Complement of a Hyperbolic Quadric in PG (3, q), for q Odd

The incidence structure NQ⁺(3, q) has points the points not on a non-degenerate hyperbolic quadric Q⁺(3, q) in PG(3, q), and its lines are the lines of PG(3, q) not containing a point of Q⁺(3, q). It is easy to show that NQ⁺(3, q) is a partial linear space of order (q, q(q−1)/2). If q is odd, then moreover NQ⁺(3, q) satisfies the property that for each non-incident point line pair (x,L), there are either (q−1)/2 or (q+1)/2 points incident with L that are collinear with x. A partial linear space of order (s, t) satisfying this property is called a ((q−1)/2,(q+1)/2)-geometry. In this paper, we will prove the following characterization of NQ⁺(3,q). Let S be a ((q−1)/2,(q+1)/2)-geometry fully embedded in PG(n, q), for q odd and q>3. Then S = NQ⁺(3, q).     

Cubic surfaces in AG(3, q) and projective planes of order q 3

Spread sets of projective planes of order q ³ are represented as sets of q ³ points in A AG(3, q ³). A line through the origin in A can be interpreted as a space A ₀ AG(3, q), and the spread set induces a cubic surface L in A ₀. If the projective plane is a semifield plane of dimension 3 over its kernel, then L has the property that it misses a plane of A ₀. Determining all such surfaces L leads to a complete classification of the semifield planes of order q ³, whose spread sets are division algebras of dimension 3.An alternative proof of a result due to Menichetti, that finite division algebras of dimension 3 are associative or are twisted fields, follows with the classification.     

On translation planes of orderq 3 that admit a collineation group of orderq 3, II

Let II be a translation plane of orderq ³ with kernel GF(q) that admits a collineation groupG of orderq ³ in the linear translation complement such thatG fixes a point at infinity and acts transitively on the remaining points at infinity.In this paper, we show that any such translation plane II is one of the following types of planes:     

On the nonexistence of certain Hughes generalized quadrangles

In this paper, we prove that the Hermitian quadrangle is the unique generalized quadrangle Γ of order (q ², q ³) containing some subquadrangle of order (q ², q) isomorphic to such that every central elation of the subquadrangle is induced by a collineation of Γ. Dedicated to Dan Hughes on the occasion of his 80th birthday.     

On a generalization of Kantor's likeable planes

Generalizing an idea of Kantor [7], Johnson and Wilke [5] introduced elusive sets of functions over GF(q) to represent translation planes of order q ² that admit a collineation group of order q ² in the linear translation complement and whose kern contains GF(q). In this paper we determine explicitly all elusive sets for q even. We obtain another translation plane of order 8².Deicated to Professors Adriano Barlotti and Luigi Antonio Rosati on the occasion of their 60th birthdayThis research was supported in part by a grant from the M.P.I. (40% funds).     

A spectrum result on minimal blocking sets with respect to the planes of PG(3, q), q odd

This article presents a spectrum result on minimal blocking sets with respect to the planes of PG(3, q), q odd. We prove that for every integer k in an interval of, roughly, size [q ²/4, 3q ²/4], there exists such a minimal blocking set of size k in PG(3, q), q odd. A similar result on the spectrum of minimal blocking sets with respect to the planes of PG(3, q), q even, was presented in Rößing and Storme (Eur J Combin 31:349–361, 2010). Since minimal blocking sets with respect to the planes in PG(3, q) are tangency sets, they define maximal partial 1-systems on the Klein quadric Q ⁺(5, q), so we get the same spectrum result for maximal partial 1-systems of lines on the Klein quadric Q ⁺(5, q), q odd.     

PSL(2,q) as a collineation group of projective planes of small order

Let Π be a projective plane of order n admitting a collineation group G≅PSL(2, q) for some prime power q. It is well known for n=q that Π must be Desarguesian. We show that if n<q then only finitely many cases may occur for П, all of which are Desarguesian. We obtain some information in case n=q ² with q odd, notably that G acts irreducibly on П for q≠3, 5, 9. The material herein was presented to the University of Toronto in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The author is grateful to Professor Chat Y. Ho, presently at the University of Florida, for guidance in this research.     

Translation planes of large dimension admitting nonsolvable groups

In this article, the question is considered whether there exist finite translation planes with arbitrarily small kernels admitting nonsolvable collineation groups. For any integerN, it is shown that there exist translation planes of dimension >N and orderq ³ admittingGL(2,q) as a collineation group.     

Designs with block-size 6 in projective planes of characteristic 2

We construct simple 3-designs and 4-designs of block-size 6 in the classical projective planesPG(2,q),q a power of 2. All of our designs are invariant under the projective groupPGL(3,q). Aside from several infinite series of 3-designs we get some relatively small designs of independent interest, e.g. designs with parameters 4-(21, 6, 16) and 4-(73, 6, 330) defined in the planes of orders 4 and 8, respectively.     

The six semifield planes associated with a semifield flock

In 1965 Knuth (J. Algebra 2 (1965) 182) noticed that a finite semifield was determined by a 3-cube array (a_ijk) and that any permutation of the indices would give another semifield. In this article we explain the geometrical significance of these permutations. It is known that a pair of functions (f,g) where f and g are functions from GF(q) to GF(q) with the property that f and g are linear over some subfield and g(x)²+4xf(x) is a non-square for all x∈GF(q)∗, q odd, give rise to certain semifields, one of which is commutative of rank 2 over its middle nucleus, one of which arises from a semifield flock of the quadratic cone, and another that comes from a translation ovoid of Q(4,q). We show that there are in fact six non-isotopic semifields that can be constructed from such a pair of functions, which will give rise to six non-isomorphic semifield planes, unless (f,g) are of linear type or of Dickson-Kantor-Knuth type. These six semifields fall into two sets of three semifields related by Knuth operations.     

Two-dimensional flag-transitive planes revisited

This paper shows that the odd order two-dimensional flag-transitive planes constructed by Kantor-Suetake constitute the same family of planes as those constructed by Baker-Ebert. Moreover, for orders satisfying a modest number theoretical assumption this family consists of all possible such planes of that order. In particular, it is shown that the number of isomorphism classes of (non-Desarguesian) two-dimensional flag-transitive affine planes of order q ² is precisely (q–1)/2 when q is an odd prime and precisely (q–1)/2e when q=p ^e is an odd prime power with exponent e that is a power of 2. An enumeration is given in other cases that uses the Möbius inversion formula.This work was partially supported by NSA grant MDA 904-95-H-1013.This work was partially supported by NSA grant MDA 904-94-H-2033.     

Semifield planes of order p 4 and kernel GF(p 2)

In this article we determine the number of non-isomorphic semifield planes of order p⁴ and kernel GF(p²) for p prime, 3 ≤ p ≤ 11. We show that for each of these values of p, the plane is either desarguesian, p-primitive, or a generalized twisted field plane. We also show that the class of p-primitive planes is the largest. We also discuss the autotopism group of the semifields under study.     

Unitals in the code of the Hughes plane

A coding‐theoretic characterization of a unital in the Hughes plane is provided, based on and extending the work of Blokhuis, Brouwer, and Wilbrink in PG(2,q²). It is shown that a Frobenius‐invariant unital is contained in the p‐code of the Hughes plane if and only if that unital is projectively equivalent to the Rosati unital. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.