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.     

Local Sharply Transitive Actions on Finite Generalized Quadrangles

We classify the finite generalized quadrangles containing a line L such that some group of collineations acts sharply transitively on the ordered pentagons which start with two points of L. This can be seen as a generalization of a result of Thas and the second author [22] classifying all finite generalized quadrangles admitting a collineation group that acts transitively on all ordered pentagons, although the restriction to sharp transitivity is essential in our arguments. However, the conclusion is exactly the same family of classical generalized quadrangles (the orthogonal quadrangles and their duals). Our main result thus provides a local group theoretic characterization of these classical quadrangles.     

Intriguing sets in partial quadrangles

The point‐line geometry known as a partial quadrangle (introduced by Cameron in 1975) has the property that for every point/line non‐incident pair (P, ?), there is at most one line through P concurrent with ?. So in particular, the well‐studied objects known as generalized quadrangles are each partial quadrangles. An intriguing set of a generalized quadrangle is a set of points which induces an equitable partition of size two of the underlying strongly regular graph. We extend the theory of intriguing sets of generalized quadrangles by Bamberg, Law and Penttila to partial quadrangles, which gives insight into the structure of hemisystems and other intriguing sets of generalized quadrangles. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Combin Designs 19:217‐245, 2011     

Compact Ovoids in Quadrangles I: Geometric Constructions

This paper is about ovoids in infinite generalized quadrangles. Using the axiom of choice, Cameron showed that infinite quadrangles contain many ovoids. Therefore, we consider mainly closed ovoids in compact quadrangles. After deriving some basic properties of compact ovoids, we consider ovoids which arise from full imbeddings. This leads to restrictions for the topological parameters (m,m). For example, if there is a regular pair of lines or a full closed subquadrangle, then mm. The existence of full subquadrangles implies the nonexistence of ideal subquadrangles, so finite-dimensional quadrangles are either point-minimal or line-minimal. Another result is that (up to duality) such a quadrangle is spanned by the set of points on an ordinary quadrangle. This is useful for studying orbits of automorphism groups. Finally we prove general nonexistence results for ovoids in quadrangles with low-dimensional line pencils. As one consequence we show that the symplectic quadrangle over an algebraically closed field of characteristic 0 has no Zariski-closed ovoids or spreads.     

On a conjecture of Brouwer involving the connectivity of strongly regular graphs

In this paper, we study a conjecture of Andries E. Brouwer from 1996 regarding the minimum number of vertices of a strongly regular graph whose removal disconnects the graph into non-singleton components.We show that strongly regular graphs constructed from copolar spaces and from the more general spaces called Δ-spaces are counterexamples to Brouwer?s Conjecture. Using J.I. Hall?s characterization of finite reduced copolar spaces, we find that the triangular graphs T(m), the symplectic graphs Sp(2r,q) over the field Fq (for any q prime power), and the strongly regular graphs constructed from the hyperbolic quadrics O⁺(2r,2) and from the elliptic quadrics O⁻(2r,2) over the field F₂, respectively, are counterexamples to Brouwer?s Conjecture. For each of these graphs, we determine precisely the minimum number of vertices whose removal disconnects the graph into non-singleton components. While we are not aware of an analogue of Hall?s characterization theorem for Δ-spaces, we show that complements of the point graphs of certain finite generalized quadrangles are point graphs of Δ-spaces and thus, yield other counterexamples to Brouwer?s Conjecture.We prove that Brouwer?s Conjecture is true for many families of strongly regular graphs including the conference graphs, the generalized quadrangles GQ(q,q) graphs, the lattice graphs, the Latin square graphs, the strongly regular graphs with smallest eigenvalue −2 (except the triangular graphs) and the primitive strongly regular graphs with at most 30 vertices except for few cases.We leave as an open problem determining the best general lower bound for the minimum size of a disconnecting set of vertices of a strongly regular graph, whose removal disconnects the graph into non-singleton components.     

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.      

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.      

Actions of Compact Groups on Compact (4,m)-Quadrangles

We establish sharp upper bounds for the dimensions of compact groups which act effectively on finite-dimensional compact generalized quadrangles with four-dimensional point rows. These bounds are attained, or indeed approached, only for explicitly known actions of Lie groups on Moufang quadrangles.     

A Combinatorial Characterization of Some Finite Classical Generalized Hexagons

We characterize the Moufang hexagons in characteristic 2 by requiring that certain sets of points (defined by distances from other objects) are nonempty. Together with a known result for quadrangles, we obtain a common combinatorial characterization of the symplectic quadrangles over an arbitrary finite field and the classical hexagons over a field of characteristic 2 amongst all finite generalized polygons.     

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.     

Subplanes of projective planes of order 121

We determine orbit representatives of all proper subplanes generated by quadrangles of a Veblen-Wedderburn (VW) plane Π of order 11² and the Hughes plane Σ of order 11² under their full collineation groups. In Π, there are 13 orbits of Baer subplanes all of which are desarguesian and approximately 3000 orbits of Fano subplanes. In Σ, there are 8 orbits of Baer subplanes all of which are desarguesian, 2 orbits of subplanes of order 3 and at most 408,075 distinct Fano subplanes. This work was motivated by the well-known question: “Does there exist a non-desarguesian projective plane of prime order?” The question remains unsettled.     

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].     

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.     

Generalized polygons with highly transitive collineation groups

It will be proved that the compact connected topological generalized quadrangles which admit a collineation group that acts transitively on ordered pentagons are precisely the real or complex orthogonal quadrangles, up to duality.Dedicated to Prof. H. Salzmann on the occasion of his 65th birthday     

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.     

Linearly small elation quadrangles

We show that each elation generalized quadrangle with parameters (p, p), where p is a prime, is isomorphic to the symplectic quadrangle W(p) or its dual Q(4, p). Our results cover the more general case of linearly small elation generalized quadrangles. In particular, we obtain a characterization of the symplectic quadrangle over the field of complex numbers among compact connected quadrangles. We prove that every root elation quadrangle (Q, c, H _F ) is a skew translation quadrangle.     

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.     

Slanted symplectic quadrangles

By slanting symplectic quadrangles W(F) over fieldsF, we obtain very simple examples of non-classical generalized quadrangles. We determine the collineation groups of these slanted quadrangles and their groups of projectivities. No slanted quadrangle is a topological quadrangle.     

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.