The non-existence of certain regular generalized polygons (Q1345873)

The paper introduces the notion of distance-\(i\)-regularity and regularity in generalized polygons, thus generalizing the notion of `regular point' in a generalized quadrangle or hexagon. It is shown that a thick generalized polygon cannot contain too many regular points unless it is a projective plane, quadrangle or hexagon. For certain polygons (thick `odd'-gons and 8-gons), even a certain number of distance-2-regular points cannot exist. As an application, a geometric and rather elementary proof of the non-existence of thick buildings of spherical type \(H_ 3\) is presented.