Natural representations of the \(P\)-geometries of \(Co_ 2\)-type (Q1325069)

A geometry is called a \(P\)-geometry if it belongs to a string diagram which is obtained from the diagram of a projective space over \(GF(2)\) by adding an edge which represents the geometry of edges and vertices of the Petersen graph. A representation of a geometry in a vector space \(V\) is called natural if the varieties of type \(i\) are mapped onto \(i\)- dimensional subspaces of \(V\). The authors show that there are precisely four flag-transitive \(P\)-geometries which admit natural representations; all these geometries are related to the second Conway group \(Co_ 2\). As a by-product they obtain that there are no flat-transitive \(P\)-geometries of rank at least 6 and that the tilde geometry of the Fischer-Griess monster admits no natural representation.