A new proof of the representation theorem for Miquelian Möbius planes (Q1912804)

The author considers Miquelian Möbius planes with at least five points on each circle. \textit{B. L. van der Waerden} and \textit{L. J. Smid} [Math. Ann. 110, 753-776 (1935; Zbl 0010.26803)] showed that a Miquelian Möbius plane \(\mathcal M\) can be described as the geometry of plane sections of an elliptic quadric in 3-dimensional projective space. In their proof they show that every derived affine plane at a point of \(\mathcal M\) is Pappian, i.e., can be coordinatised over a field \(\mathbb{K}_0\). Then they verify that all circles of \(\mathcal M\) not passing through the point \(P\) of derivation are conic sections in the derived affine plane at \(P\); furthermore the associated quadratic forms are the same for all these circles. The author gives a new proof of this representation theorem for Miquelian Möbius planes. However, he aims at yet another description of these planes. Here the points of a derived affine plane are identified with elements of a quadratic extension field \(\mathbb{K}\) of \(\mathbb{K}_0\). Circles (including the lines of the affine plane extended by the symbol \(\infty\)) are the solutions of equations in \(z\) of the form \(az\alpha(z) + bz + \alpha(bz) + c = c\) for certain \(a, c \in \mathbb{K}_0\), \(b \in \mathbb{K}\), where \(\alpha\) is an involutory automorphism of \(\mathbb{K}\) that fixed every element of \(\mathbb{K}_0\). They are the images of a fixed circle under the group of Möbius transformations \(z \mapsto {az + b \over cx + d}\) with \(a, b, c, d \in \mathbb{K}\), \(ad - bc \neq 0\). In order to obtain the field operations of \(\mathbb{K}\) geometrically Miquel's configuration and various of its degenerations are applied. The addition of \(\mathbb{K}\) is readily constructed. As for the multiplication the author introduces the following relation on 6-tuples of points. Points \(A\), \(A'\), \(B\), \(B'\), \(C\), \(C'\) are said to be in the `four-cycle relation' if the circles determined by the triples \((A, B, C)\), \((A, B', C')\), \((A', B, C')\) and \((A', B', C)\) are mutually distinct, pass through a common point \(Q\) and are such that no point except \(A\), \(A'\), \(B\), \(B'\), \(C\), \(C'\), \(Q\) is on more than one of these four circles. The author shows that given four points not on a circle one obtains an automorphism of \(\mathcal M\) by defining that a point \(X\) is taken on \(X'\) such that the points \(O\), \(P\), \(A\), \(X'\), \(X\), \(A'\) (in that order) are in the four-cycle relation. For fixed \(O\) and \(P\) these automorphisms describe similarity transformations of the derived affine plane at \(P\). Using cross ratios to describe similarities, the author finally shows that circles are images of a fixed circle under Möbius transformations.