The packings of \(\mathrm{PG}(3,3)\) (Q281320): Difference between revisions

A spread of \(\mathrm{PG}(3,q)\) is a set of \(q^2+1\) pairwise disjoint lines while a packing of \(\mathrm{PG}(3,q)\) is a set of \(q^2+q+1\) spreads that are pairwise disjoint, and hence, partition the line set. In this paper, the author describes a computer search which enables to classify all packings of \(\mathrm{PG}(3,3)\). He finds in total 73 343 projectively inequivalent packings of \(\mathrm{PG}(3,3)\). There are two inequivalent spreads in \(\mathrm{PG}(3,3)\), namely the Desarguesian spread and the Hall spread. The \textit{type} of a packing in \(\mathrm{PG}(3,3)\) is defined by the number of Desarguesian and Hall spreads contained in that packing. The author provides a table with the number of inequivalent packings of every possible type. In particular, he reconfirms the result of \textit{A. R. Prince} [Lond. Math. Soc. Lect. Note Ser. 245, 193--200 (1997; Zbl 0888.51010)] that there are no regular uniform packings.