A geometric characterization of the simple group \(Co_ 2\) (Q1327048)

The author calls residually connected geometries belonging to the diagram \[ \circ{} {\overset{\mathstrut c\mathstrut}\diagrbar\circ}\diagrBar\circ\diagrbar\circ \] extended dual polar spaces. He only considers such geometries with a flag- transitive automorphism group \(G\) and point residues isomorphic to the building for \(U_ 6(2)\). A well-known example is a geometry \(\mathcal G\) for the simple group \(G = Co_ 2\). Other examples are provided by \(G = Co_ 2 \times Z_ 2\) (belonging to the proper 2-cover of \(\mathcal G\)) and by \(V \rtimes U_ 6(2)\), where \(V\) is a 20-dimensional module over \(GF(2)\) for \(U_ 6(2)\). Under the additional assumption that there are three points which are pairwise collinear, but do not belong to the same residue of a circle, the author proves that such a geometry is uniquely determined, namely it is isomorphic to \(\mathcal G\) with automorphisms group \(G \cong Co_ 2\). For the proof the author studies the collinearity graph of such a geometry using detailed information of the collinearity graph of the dual polar space for \(U_ 6(2)\) and of maximal subgroups and permutation representations of \(U_ 6(2)\). For a determination of the residues of planes, the author cites the classification of locally polar spaces. In the final identification of \(G\), the author applies a characterization of \(Co_ 2\) given by \textit{F. L. Smith} [J. Algebra 31, 91-116 (1974; Zbl 0292.20011)].