A new infinite family of hemisystems of the Hermitian surface (Q1747992)

A hemisystem of a generalized quadrangle of order \((q^2,q)\), \(q\) odd is a set of lines \({\mathcal H}\) containing half of the lines on every point. They are canonically connected to strongly regular graphs, partial quadrangles and 4-class imprimitive cometric \(Q\)-anitpodal association schemes that are not metric. The authors generalize numerous examples by proving that there exists a hemisystem of the Hermitian surface \({\mathcal H}(3,q^2)\) for every odd prime power \(q \equiv 3 \pmod{4},\) admitting \(C_{{{q^3+1}\over{4}}}:C_3\). They show that this infinite family gives new hemisystems beyond the known examples. The construction is based on identifying a semisystem of a Hermitian surface with its dual set of points in the elliptic quadric \(Q^-(5,q)\) and is similar to the technique use to construct \({{q^2-1}\over{2}}\)-tight sets of \(Q^+(5,q).\)