On the Bose-Barlotti \(\Delta\)-planes (Q1326555)

Let \(\Sigma'= \text{PG}(4,q)\), and let \(\Sigma\) and \(\Omega\) be two distinct hyperplanes of \(\Sigma'\). If \({\mathcal S}\) is a spread of \(\Sigma\) (i.e., \(q^ 2+1\) mutually skew lines partitioning the points of \(\Sigma\)), then there is exactly one line \(s\) of \({\mathcal S}\) contained in the plane \(\Omega\cap \Sigma\). Using \(\Sigma'\), \(\Sigma\), \(\Omega\) and \({\mathcal S}\), \textit{R. C. Bose} and \textit{A. Barlotti} [Ann. Mat. Pura Appl., IV. Ser. 88, 9-31 (1971; Zbl 0229.50024)] constructed a semi-translation plane \(\Delta= \Delta (\Sigma', \Sigma, \Omega,{\mathcal S})\) of order \(q^ 2\). Recall that an affine plane is called a semi-translation plane if it contains an affine Baer subplane \(B\) such that \(B\) is a translation plane and every translation of \(B\) is induced by a translation of \(A\). In [\textit{A. Barlotti} and the second author, Riv. Mat. Univ. Parma, IV. Ser. 5, 781-785 (1979)] it was shown that \(\Delta\)-planes contain unitals. In the paper under review the authors show that carefully chosen spreads of \(\Sigma\) yield very interesting \(\Delta\)-planes. Let \({\mathcal F}\) be a flock of a 3-dimensional quadratic cone \({\mathcal Q}\) (i.e., \(q\) mutually disjoint conics partitioning the points of \({\mathcal Q}\) other than the vertex). Embedding \({\mathcal Q}\) into the Klein quadric and using the well known techniques of Thas or Walker [see \textit{M. Walker}, Geom. Dedicata 5, 135-146 (1976; Zbl 0356.50022)], one obtains a spread \({\mathcal S}= {\mathcal S}({\mathcal F})\) of \(\Sigma\) which consists of \(q\) reguli pairwise meeting in a common line \(s\). Returning to the notation above, let \(\alpha\) be any plane of \(\Sigma\) containing \(s\), and let \(\Omega\) be any hyperplane of \(\Sigma'\) containing \(\alpha\) which is distinct from \(\Sigma\). It is shown that if \({\mathcal S}= {\mathcal S}({\mathcal F})\) is not a semifield spread, then \(\Delta= \Delta (\Sigma', \Sigma, \Omega,{\mathcal S})\) is a plane of Lenz-Barlotti class II-1. That is, \(\Delta\) has a unique incident point- line transitivity. Using known flocks of a quadratic cone, the authors then construct several families of such planes. The isomorphism question for the resulting planes is also addressed.