The order of the automorphism group of a binary \(q\)-analog of the Fano plane is at most two (Q1696040)

Let \(t,v,k\) be integers with \(0\leq t\leq k \leq v\) and \(\lambda\) another positive integer. A set \(D\) of \(k\)-dimensional vector subspaces in the vector space \(V=V(v,q)\) of dimension \(v\) over the finite field of order \(q\) is called a \textit{\(t\)-\((v,k,\lambda)_q \) subspace design} if each \(t\)-subspace of \(V\) is contained in exactly \(\lambda\) elements of \(D\). When \(\lambda=1\), then \(D\) is called a \textit{\(q\)-Steiner system}. If additionally \(t=2\) and \(k=3\), then \(D\) is called a \textit{\(q\)-Steiner triple system} and denoted by STS\(_q(v)\). A STS\(_q(7)\) is called a \textit{\(q\)-analog} of the Fano plane. The existence of a \(q\)-analog of the Fano plane is still an open problem. For possible binary \(q\)-analogs of the Fano plane, all automorphisms of order greater than 4 have been excluded. This article shows with theoretical and computational methods that the automorphism group of a binary \(q\)-analog of the Fano plane is either trivial or of order two. The computational methods include the Kramer-Mesner method. The reviewer wishes to note that \textit{J. Bamberg} et al. [``The binary \(q\)-analogue of the Fano plane has a trivial automorphism group'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:1709.05145}] succeeded in proving that the automorphism group of a putative binary \(q\)-analog of the Fano plane must be trivial.