The classification of spreads in PG(3, q) admitting linear groups of order q(q+1), I. odd order

A classification is given of all spreads in PG(3, q), q = p^r, p odd, whose associated translation planes admit linear collineation groups of order q(q +1) such that a Sylow p-subgroup fixes a line and acts non-trivially on it.The authors are indebted to T. Penttila for pointing out the special examples of conical flock translation planes of order q² that admit groups of order q(q+1), when q = 23 or 47.     

On the existence of semifields of prime power order admitting free automorphism groups

The purpose of this paper is to prove the existence of semifields of order q ⁴ for any odd prime power q = p^r, q > 3, admitting a free automorphism group isomorphic to Z ₂ × Z ₂.     

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.     

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

Let II be a translation plane of orderq ³, with kernel GF(q) forq a prime power, that admits a collineation groupG of orderq ³ in the linear translation complement. Moreover, assume thatG fixes a point at infinity, acts transitively on the remaining points at infinity andG/E is an abelian group of orderq ², whereE is the elation group ofG.In this article, we determined all such translation planes. They are (i) elusive planes of type I or II or (ii) desirable planes.Furthermore, we completely determined the translation planes of orderp ³, forp a prime, admitting a collineation groupG of orderp ³ in the translation complement such thatG fixes a point at infinity and acts transitively on the remaining points at infinity. They are (i) semifield planes of orderp ³ or (ii) the Sherk plane of order 27.     

A characterisation of spreads ovally-derived from Desarguesian spreads

We characterise all spreads that are obtainable from Desarguesian spreads by replacing a partial spread consisting of translation ovals; the corresponding ovally-derived planes are generalised André planes, of order 2 ^N , although not all generalised André planes are ovallyderived from Desarguesian planes. Our analysis allows us to obtain a complete classification of all nearfield planes that are ovally-derived from Desarguesian planes. It turns out that whether or not a nearfield plane is ovally-derived from a Desarguesian plane depends solely on the parametersq andr, where GF (q) is the kern, andr is the dimension of the plane. Our results also imply that a Hall plane of even orderq ² can be ovally-derived from a Desarguesian spread if and only ifq is a square.     

Classification of triply-retractive semifields of order q 4

A complete classification of the semifield spreads of order q⁴ that triply-retract to mixed partitions of PG (3, q²) is given.     

ON STABLE LINE SEGMENTS IN ALL TRIANGULATIONS OF A PLANAR POINT SET

Abstract. Let S be a set of finite plauar points. A llne segment L(p, q) with p, q E Sis called a stable line segment of S, if there is no Line segment with two endpoints in S intersecting L(p, q). In this paper, some geometric properties of the set of all stable line segments     

The co-existence of elations and homologies of prime order

N. Krier and J. C. D. S. Yaqub have proved that if a projective plane admits an involutory homology and an involutory elation, then does not belong to the Lenz-Barlotti class I₁, and belongs to the class I₂. In this paper, we find the classification of projective planes having a homology of orderp and an elation of orderq, wherep andq are primes.This is based on a part of the doctoral dissertation of A. Solai Raju. The work was supported by a Senior Research Fellowship of the CSIR, India.     

Maximal arcs in Desarguesian planes of odd order do not exist

Forq an odd prime power, and 1<n<q, the Desarguesian planePG(2,q) does not contain an(nq–q+n,n)-arc.Supported by Italian M.U.R.S.T. (Research Group onStrutture geometriche, combinatoria, loro applicazioni) and G.N.S.A.G.A. of C.N.R.     

Baer cone intersections

If K is a blocking set of a projective space and P a point not in K, then the projection of K from P onto a hyperplane of not containing P is a blocking set of . Projecting a blocking set K of PG(3, q²) from two different points P₀, P₁ onto a plane neither containing P₀ nor P₁, the intersection of the two cones with vertices P₀ and P₁ and bases the corresponding projections onto should constitute a big part of the blocking set. Looking for non-trivial blocking sets, the bases contain each a Baer subplane of . Hence the intersection of the two Baer cones over these Baer subplanes with the vertices P₀ and P₁ are part of the blocking set K in PG(3, q²). In this article, we describe the intersection configurations of two Baer cones in PG(3, q²).     

Maximal partial spreads in PG (3, q)

We transfer the whole geometry of PG(3, q) over a non-singular quadric Q_4,q of PG(4, q) mapping suitably PG(3, q) over Q_4,q. More precisely the points of PG(3, q) are the lines of Q_4,q; the lines of PG(3, q) are the tangent cones of Q_4,q and the reguli of the hyperbolic quadrics hyperplane section of Q_4,q. A plane of PG(3, q) is the set of lines of Q_4,q meeting a fixed line of Q_4,q. We remark that this representation is valid also for a projective space over any field K and we apply the above representation to construct maximal partial spreads in PG(3, q). For q even we get new cardinalities for For q odd the cardinalities are partially known.     

Minimum distance of orthogonal line-Grassmann codes in even characteristic

In this paper we determine the minimum distance of orthogonal line-Grassmann codes for q even. The case q odd was solved in [3]. For $n\ne 3$ we also determine their second smallest distance. Furthermore, we show that for q even all minimum weight codewords are equivalent and that the symplectic line-Grassmann codes are proper subcodes of codimension 2n of the orthogonal ones.     

Flocks and ovals

An infinite family of q-clans, called the Subiaco q-clans, is constructed for q=2^e. Associated with these q-clans are flocks of quadratic cones, elation generalized quadrangles of order (q ², q), ovals of PG(2, q) and translation planes of order q ² with kernel GF(q). It is also shown that a q-clan, for q=2^e, is equivalent to a certain configuration of q+1 ovals of PG(2, q), called a herd.W. Cherowitzo gratefully acknowledges the support of the Australian Research Council and has the deepest gratitude and warmest regards for the Combinatorial Computing Research Group at the University of Western Australia for their congenial hospitality and moral support. I. Pinneri gratefully acknowledges the support of a University of Western Australia Research Scholarship.     

Distances on Lie groups of polynomial volume growth

For any simply connected solvable Lie group Q of polynomial volume growth, we introduce the notion of nil-shadow of Q. We shall give an explicit formula for the distance to the origin of an element q ∈ Q in terms of its exponential coordinates of the second kind taken in an appropriate basis. This result extends a previous result for nilpotent Lie groups [6, Theorem DN] and [7, Theorem 1].     

On flag-transitive affine planes of orderq 3

Let be a translation plane of orderq ³,q an odd prime power, whose kern GF(q). Letl be the line at infinity of . LetG be a solvable collineation group of in the linear translation complement, which acts transitively onl , and letH be a maximal normal cyclic subgroup ofG. Then the restriction ofH onl acts semiregularly onl and {1, 2, 3, 6}, where is the restriction ofG onl (ifq –1(mod 3), then {1, 2}). Ifq {3, 5} and {1, 2}, then is determined completely, using a computer.     

On the sharpness of a theorem of B. segre

The theorem of B. Segre mentioned in the title states that a complete arc of PG(2,q),q even which is not a hyperoval consists of at mostq−√q+1 points. In the first part of our paper we prove this theorem to be sharp forq=s ² by constructing completeq−√q+1-arcs. Our construction is based on the cyclic partition of PG(2,q) into disjoint Baer-subplanes. (See Bruck [1]). In his paper [5] Kestenband constructed a class of (q−√q+1)-arcs but he did not prove their completeness. In the second part of our paper we discuss the connections between Kestenband’s and our constructions. We prove that these constructions result in isomorphic (q−√q+1)-arcs. The proof of this isomorphism is based on the existence of a traceorthogonal normal basis in GF(q ³) over GF(q), and on a representation of GF(q)³ in GF(q ³)³ indicated in Jamison [4].     

A semi-recursion for the number of involutions in special orthogonal groups over finite fields

Let I(n) be the number of involutions in a special orthogonal group SO(n,Fq) defined over a finite field with q elements, where q is the power of an odd prime. Then the numbers I(n) form a semi-recursion, in that for m>1 we haveI(2m+3)=(q2m+2+1)I(2m+1)+q2m(q2m−1)I(2m−2). We give a purely combinatorial proof of this result, and we apply it to give a universal bound for the character degree sum for finite classical groups defined over Fq.     

Blocking Subspaces By Lines In PG(<Emphasis Type="Italic">n,q</Emphasis>)

This paper studies the cardinality of a smallest set of t-subspaces of the finite projective spaces PG(n, q) such that every s-subspace is incident with at least one element of , where 0 t < s n. This is a very difficult problem and the solution is known only for very few families of triples (s, t, n). When the answer is known, the corresponding blocking configurations usually are partitions of a subspace of PG(n, q) by subspaces of dimension t. One of the exceptions is the solution in the case t = 1 and n = 2s. In this paper, we solve the case when t = 1 and 2s < n 3s-3 and q is sufficiently large.     

Characterizations of Buekenhout-Metz unitals

We give a characterization of the Buekenhout-Metz unitals in PG(2, q ²), in the cases that q is even or q=3, in terms of the secant lines through a single point of the unital. With the addition of extra conditions, we obtain further characterizations of Buekenhout-Metz unitals in PG(2, q ²), for all q. As an application, we show that the dual of a Buekenhout-Metz unital in PG(2, q ²) is a Buekenhout-Metz unital.     

Spreads and ovoids in finite generalized quadrangles

This paper is a survey on the existence and non-existence of ovoids and spreads in the known finite generalized quadrangles. It also contains the following new results. We prove that translation generalized quadrangles of order (s,s ²), satisfying certain properties, have a spread. This applies to three known infinite classes of translation generalized quadrangles. Further a new class of ovoids in the classical generalized quadranglesQ(4, 3 ^e ),e3, is constructed. Then, by the duality betweenQ(4, 3 ^e ) and the classical generalized quadrangleW (3 ^e ), we get line spreads of PG(3, 3 ^e ) and hence translation planes of order 3^2e . These planes appear to be new. Note also that only a few classes of ovoids ofQ(4,q) are known. Next we prove that each generalized quadrangle of order (q ²,q) arising from a flock of a quadratic cone has an ovoid. Finally, we give the following characterization of the classical generalized quadranglesQ(5,q): IfS is a generalized quadrangle of order (q,q ²),q even, having a subquadrangleS isomorphic toQ(4,q) and if inS each ovoid consisting of all points collinear with a given pointx ofS\S is an elliptic quadric, thenS is isomorphic toQ(5,q).