The line geometry of a class of linear spaces (Q1377791)

For a projective space \({\mathbf P}\) (of dimension greater than \(2\)), the Grassmann space \(\Gamma^1({\mathbf P})=(G,{\mathcal L},{\mathcal S})\) consists of the set \(G\) of all lines of \({\mathbf P}\), the set \({\mathcal L}\) of line pencils (sets of lines incident with a given point-plane pair) and the set \({\mathcal S}\) of stars (sets of lines through a given point). The paper under review extends this notion to ``normal'' linear spaces (satisfying a weak version of the exchange axiom). An axiomatic characterization of the corresponding Grassmann spaces is given, and it is shown that each normal linear space can be reconstructed from its Grassmann space. This also works well in the topological setting.