The affine building of type \(\tilde A_ 2\) over a local field of characteristic two (Q798436)

A triangle group is a group generated by three elements a,b,c of order 3 such that each pair of generators generates a Frobenius group of order 21. There are four types of presentations for triangle groups (M. Ronan); groups of ''type 3'' are factor groups of the finitely presented group \(G_ 3=<a,b,c| a^ 3=b^ 3=c^ 3=1\), \((ab)^ 2=ba\), \((ac)^ 2=ca\), \((c^{-1}b)^ 2=bc^{-1}>.\) The authors determine \(G_ 3\) as a subgroup of SL(3,R) by giving three generating matrices corresponding to a,b,c, where R is the ring \(F_ 2[x]\) localized at \(u=1+x+x^ 2\), i.e. \(R=F_ 2[x,u^{-1}]\). Reducing R modulo various ideals gives examples of finite triangle groups; in particular \(SL(3,2^ n)\) for \(n\geq 3\) arises in the way. The chamber system of \(G_ 3\) is isomorphic to the affine building of type \(\tilde A_ 2\) over K, the completion of \(F_ 2(x)\) at x. The number of nonisomorphic chamber systems of type 3 with automorphism group \(SL(3,2^ n)\) grows at least exponentially with n. The authors obtained similar results for triangle groups of ''type 1'' [Ref. 7: Commun. Algebra 12, 1595-1626 (1984; Zbl 0545.20023), Ref. 8.: J. Comb. Theory, Ser. A 38 (1985)]. This work seems to be motivated by results of \textit{F. G. Timmesfeld} [Math. Z. 184, 377-396 and 449-487 (1983; Zbl 0521.20007 and Zbl 0518.20036) and Mitt. Math. Semin. Gießen 163, 19-44 (1984; Zbl 0538.51011)] in an attempt to revise the classification of finite simple groups of characteristic 2-type by studying ''geometries of 2-local subgroups'', but is of independent interest to combinatorial geometry (\textit{F. Buekenhout} [Geometries and Groups, Proc. Colloq., Berlin 1981, Lect. Notes Math. 893, 1-29 (1981; Zbl 0491.51011)]. \(\{\) Ref. 2 appeared in J. Algebra 92, 208-223 (1985).\(\}\)