On a class of linear spaces with mutually intersecting long lines (Q1191608)

A finite linear space, \(\text{\textbf{L}}=({\mathcal P},{\mathcal L})\), consists of a finite set \(\mathcal P\) of points and a set \(\mathcal L\) of subsets of \(\mathcal P\) called lines such that 1) any two distinct points are contained in a unique line, 2) any line contains at least two points, and 3) there are three non-collinear points. Let \(|{\mathcal P}|=v\), \(|{\mathcal L}|=b\) and \(n\) be the maximum cardinality of any line in the finite linear space. Any line of cardinality \(n\) is called a long line and all others are considered to be short. Denote by \(b_ n\) the number of long lines in the linear space. Some linear spaces have been classified under various assumptions concerning the parameters of the space. An important example of this is \textit{J. Totten's} [Discr. Math. 13, 67-74 (1975; Zbl 0311.05018)] classification of restricted linear spaces, i.e. those linear spaces for which \((b-v)^ 2\leq v\). This paper is concerned with linear spaces in which the long lines mutually intersect. Given such a space, we may define the dual linear space \(\text{\textbf{L}}^*\), whose points are the long lines of \textbf{L} and whose lines are the pencils of long lines of \textbf{L}. This work classifies such linear spaces which satisfy the condition: \[ (v-b_ n)^ 2\leq b_ n. \] This is accomplished by noting that under this condition the dual linear space \(\text{\textbf{L}}^*\) is a restricted linear space, so Totten's classification can be used and the possible structures for \textbf{L} can then be determined.