Derivation of Cameron-Liebler line classes (Q1692164)

Let \(\text{PG}(3,q)\) denote the \(3\)-dimensional projective space over the finite field \(\mathbb{F}_q\). A spread of \(\text{PG}(3,q)\) is a set of \(q^2+1\) lines that partition the set of points. A set of lines \(\mathcal{L}\) is called a Cameron-Liebler line class with parameter \(x\) if for every spread \(S\) of \(\text{PG}(3,q)\) one has \(|S \cap \mathcal{L}| = x\). There are two known infinite families of Cameron-Liebler line classes with parameter \(\frac{q^2+1}{2}\). The main result of this paper is to introduce another one. \textit{A. Cossidente} and \textit{F. Pavese} have independently discovered this family using a different approach [Adv. Geom. 17, No. 3, 339--345 (2017; Zbl 1383.05038)]. The main idea of this paper is to apply a `switching operation' on line classes. Let \(P\) be a point of \(\text{PG}(3,q)\) and \(\text{Star}(P)\) denote the set of all lines through \(P\). Let \(\pi\) be a plane of \(\text{PG}(3,q)\) and \(\text{Line}(\pi)\) denote the set of lines in \(\pi\). Lemma 1 of this paper is as follows: \newline Let \(\mathcal{L}\) be a Cameron-Liebler line class such that there exists an incident point-line pair \((P,\pi)\) satisfying the following conditions: \newline 1. \((\text{Line}(\pi) \setminus \text{Star}(P)) \cap \mathcal{L} = \emptyset\), \newline 2. \(\text{Star}(P) \setminus \text{Line}(\pi) \subseteq \mathcal{L}\). \newline Then \[ \mathcal{L}' = \mathcal{L} \cup (\text{Line}(\pi) \setminus \text{Star}(P)) \setminus (\text{Star}(P) \setminus \text{Line}(\pi)) \] is a Cameron-Liebler line class with the same parameter. Applying this result to a family of Cameron-Liebler line classes discovered by \textit{A. A. Bruen} and \textit{K. Drudge} [Finite Fields Appl. 5, No. 1, 35--45. (1999; Zbl 0927.51012)] gives the new infinite family.