Elementary characterizations of some classes of reducts of affine spaces (Q1021302)

The authors present a self-dual axiomatic characterization, in terms of points, lines, and point-line incidence, of affine slit planes (i.e., affine planes in which all lines parallel to a given direction of lines have been removed), and show that the validity of the minor and major Desargues axioms as well as of Pappus's axiom in the slit plane implies their validity in the affine plane the slit plane is a reduct of. The higher dimensional case and the definability (or reconstruction) of the affine space from the slit affine space are also dealt with. Slit affine spaces differ from the partial affine spaces of \textit{S. Meuren} and \textit{A. Herzer} [J. Geom. 50, No.~1--2, 124--142 (1994; Zbl 0807.51002)] and \textit{S. Meuren} [J. Geom. 56, No.~1--2, 113--125 (1996; Zbl 0854.51002)], as the deleted directions in partial affine spaces need not, as in affine slit spaces, be a subspace of the (projective) horizon of the affine spaces in which they live.