Lifting subregular spreads (Q1021289)

A \textit{regular} spread is a spread of lines in \(\mathrm{PG}(3,q)\) such that the unique regulus defined by any three mutually distinct lines is contained in the spread. A \textit{subregular} spread is obtained by replacing pairwise disjoint reguli in a regular spread by their opposite reguli. The paper deals with the problem of extending a given subregular spread to an infinite class that admits similar properties. The main result is that for any subregular spread \(\pi_k\) of order \(q^2\) and constructed from a regular spread by the multiple derivation of \(k\) mutually disjoint reguli, there is always an infinite class of subregular spreads \(\pi_k^s\) of order \(q^{2s}\), for any odd \(s\), that contains \(\pi_k\). In terms of the corresponding translation planes, each \(\pi_k^s\) admits \(\pi_k\) as a subplane, and the collineation group of \(\pi_k\) which permutes the reguli that are derived lifts to a collineation group of \(\pi_k^s\) for any \(s>1\). The author also discusses how the nature of the subplane \(\pi_k\) effects the planes \(\pi_k^s\). For instance, it is proved that \(\pi_k\) is an André plane if and only if \(\pi_k^s\) is. As a consequence, any new subregular spread would give rise, via the lifting procedure described in this paper, to an infinite class of new subregular spreads.