Generalized quadrangles, Laguerre planes and shift planes of odd order (Q1623011)

This papers deals with Laguerre planes satisfying certain criteria on their automorphism groups. A Laguerre plane \(\mathcal{L}=(P,\mathcal{C},\mathcal{G})\) of order \(n\) consists of a set \(P\) of \(n(n+1)\) points, a set \(\mathcal{C}\) of circles and a set \(\mathcal{G}\) of \(n+1\) generators satisfying the following three axioms: {\parindent=6mm \begin{itemize}\item[--] \(\mathcal{G}\) partitions \(P\) and each generator contains \(n\) points. \item[--] Each circle intersects each generator in exactly one point. \item[--] Three poins of which no two are on the same generator lie on a unique circle. \end{itemize}} In this paper, the authors characterise certain Laguerre planes by conditions on their automorphism group. In the first section of the paper, they deduce a condition under which they can deduce a derived affine plane coordinatised by a semifield. In the second section, they turn their attention to shift groups. A shift group on a projective plane is a group fixing an incident point-line pair \((x,Y)\) and acting regularly on the points outside \(L\) and lines not through \(x\). They show the following: Assume that \(\mathcal{L}\) is a finite Laguerre plane of odd order \(n\) and let \(\infty\) be a point. Let \(U\) denote the set of all points \(u\in [u]\setminus \{\infty\}\) such that there exists a subgroup \(S_u\leq \Aut(\mathcal{L})\) of order \(n^2\) fixing both \(\infty\) and \(u\) and acting as a group of translations on the derived affine plane \(\mathbb{A}_u\). Then {\parindent=7mm \begin{itemize}\item[(a)] there are at least \(|U|\) many different shift groups on \(\mathbb{P}_{\infty}\); \item[(b)] if \(|U|>1\) then \(\mathbb{A}_{\infty}\) is a translation plane; \item[(c)] if \(\mathbb{A}_{\infty}\) is a translation plane and \(U\) is not empty then \(\mathbb{P}_{\infty}\) has Lenz type at least \(V\) and can be coordinatized by a commutative semifield, and the middle nucleus of such a coordinatizing semifield has order at least \(|U|+1\); \item[(d)] if \(|U|>\sqrt{n}\), then \(\mathbb{P}_\infty\) is Desarguesian. \end{itemize}} This theorem is used in [\textit{G. F. Steinke} and \textit{M. J. Stroppel}, Innov. Incidence Geom. 13, 207--223 (2013; Zbl 1307.51005)] to prove the following: Let \(\mathcal{L}\) be a finite elation Laguerre plane of odd order. If there exists a point \(\infty\) such that \(\Aut(\mathcal{L})_\infty\) acts two-transitively on \(\mathcal{G}\setminus \{[\infty]\}\) then the affine plane \(\mathbb{A}_\infty\) is Desarguesian, and \(\mathcal{L}\) is Miquelian.