Veldkamp quadrangles and polar spaces (Q2139067): Difference between revisions

Generalizing ideas of \textit{F. D. Veldkamp} [Geom. Dedicata 11, 285--308 (1981; Zbl 0468.51001)], the authors introduce the notion of a Veldkamp polygon: this is a graph endowed with local opposition relations on the neighborhoods of the vertices. A Veldkamp polygon satisfying the Moufang condition is the same thing as a Tits polygon, as introduced by the authors [Tits polygons. With an appendix by Holger P. Petersson. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society (AMS) (2022; Zbl 1498.51001)]. The focus of the paper is on Veldkamp quadrangles. The authors show that non-degenerate polar spaces with thick lines are closely related to Veldkamp quadrangles where at least one local opposition relation is trivial. Using the classification of polar spaces of rank at least 3, one obtains a classification of suitable Veldkamp quadrangles. Moreover, it is shown that all non-degenerate (pseudo-) quadratic spaces arise in this context.