Some properties of the Yoshiara family of planes (Q1348770)

Let \({\mathcal S}_k=\{\pi_0, \pi_1,\dots,\pi_k\}\) be a set of \(k+1\), \(k>1\), planes in \(PG(5,q)\), \(q\) even, such that (a) two planes of \({\mathcal S}_k\) have exactly one point in common, (b) the set \({\mathcal K}_i=\{\pi_i \cap \pi_j\mid j=0,1, \dots,k\), \(i\neq j\}\) is a \(k\)-arc of \(\pi_i\), (c) every three planes in \({\mathcal S}_k\text{ span} PG(5,q)\). We say that \({\mathcal S}_k\) is complete if there is no plane \(\pi\) in \(PG(5,q)\) such that \({\mathcal S}_k\cup \{\pi \} ={\mathcal S}_{k+1}\). Otherwise, \({\mathcal S}_k\) is incomplete. If \(k=q+3\), we call an \({\mathcal S}_{q+2}\) a \(Y\)-family. Such a set of planes is used to construct extended generalized quadrangles of order \((q+1,q-1)\) by Yoshiara in [\textit{S. Yoshiara}, Eur. J. Comb. 18, No. 7, 835-848 (1997; Zbl 0890.51011)]. In this paper, the author proves that \(k<q+1\) for complete \({\mathcal S}_k\) and, when \(k>{2q+3 \over 3}\), the completion of \({\mathcal S}_k\), if it exists, is unique.