Solution of a question of Knarr

The Moufang condition is one of the central group theoretical conditions in Incidence Geometry, and was introduced by Jacques Tits in his famous lecture notes (1974).

About ten years ago, Norbert Knarr studied generalized quadrangles (buildings of Type ) which satisfy one of the Moufang conditions locally at one point. He then posed the fundamental question whether the group generated by the root-elations with its root containing that point is always a sharply transitive group on the points opposite this point, that is, whether this group is an elation group.

In this paper, we solve the question and a more general version affirmatively for finite generalized quadrangles.

Moreover, we show that this group is necessarily nilpotent (which was only known up till now when both Moufang conditions are satisfied for all points and lines).

In fact, as a corollary, we will prove that these groups always have to be -groups for some prime .