The covering radii of the 2-transitive unitary, Suzuki, and Ree groups (Q1755292)

Let $n$ be a positive integer and $n\geq 2$. The Hamming distance $d_n$ on the symmetric group $S_n$ is defined by letting $d_n(g, h)=n-|\mathrm{fix}(gh^{-1})|$ for any $g, h\in S_n$, where $\mathrm{fix}(x)$ denotes the set of fixed points for $x\in S_n$. Equipped with Hamming distance $S_n$ is then a metric space. The distance of a point $v$ from a subset $C$ in $S_n$ is $d_n(v,C):=\min\{d_n(v,c):c\in C\}$ and the covering radius of $C$ is $\operatorname{cr}_n(C):=\max\{d_n(v,C): v\in S_n\}$. Covering radii of subgroups of $S_n$ were first studied by \textit{P. J. Cameron} and \textit{I. M. Wanless} in [Discrete Math. 293, No. 1--3, 91--109 (2005; Zbl 1078.05001)], where an upper bound for a $t$-transitive permutation group was given in terms of transitivity and the covering radii of 2-transitive permutation groups $\mathrm{PSL}(2,q)$ for all $q$, and $\mathrm{AGL}(2,q)$ and $\mathrm{PGL}(2,q)$ for $q\not\equiv 1 \pmod{6}$ were determined. For $q\equiv 1 \pmod{6}$, a determination of $\operatorname{cr}_{q+1}(\mathrm{AGL}(2,q))$ and $\operatorname{cr}_{q+1}(\mathrm{PGL}(2,q))$ was accomplished by \textit{I. M. Wanless} and \textit{X. Zhang} [Eur. J. Comb. 34, No. 7, 1130--1143 (2013; Zbl 1295.05069)] and by \textit{B. Xia} [Discrete Math. 340, No. 10, 2469--2471 (2017; Zbl 1379.05002)], respectively. In the given paper, the authors obtain lower and upper bounds for the covering radii of the other 2-transitive permutation groups, namely finite almost simple groups with the socle of (twisted) Lie type of rank one: $\mathrm{PSU}(3, q)$, $\mathrm{Sz}(q)$ and $\mathrm{Ree}(q)$. Cameron and Wanless in the above-mentioned paper gave a geometric interpretation for their work, namely a link between the covering radius of the group $\mathrm{PGL}(2,q)$ and the classical Minkowski planes. However they did not give many details. The authors of the given paper explain this link in detail and then establish a similar link between the covering radius of $\mathrm{PGU}(3,q)$ and a certain finite geometry ${\mathcal{U}}_{2,2}$. They also pose the problem of characterising the classical ovoids of ${\mathcal{U}}_{2,2}$ via incidence geometry.