A Higman-Haemers inequality for thick regular near polygons (Q1768527)

Let \(\Gamma\) be a generalized \(n\)-gon of order \((s, t)\) (i.e. on every line there are exactly \(s+1\) points and every point lies on \(t+1\) lines). W. Feit and D. G. Higman showed that, apart from the ordinary polygons, finite examples only exist for \(n = 3, 4, 6, 8\) or \(12\). If \(s>1\) and \(t>1\), then \(n = 12\) is not possible. In the case of \(n = 4, 6, 8\) \textit{D. G. Higman} [Atti Convegno Geom. combinat. Appl. Perugia 1970; 263--293 (1971; Zbl 0328.50004); Combinatorics; Part 3, Proc. advanced Study Inst., Breukelen, 27--43 (1974; Zbl 0366.05018)] and \textit{W.~Haemers} and \textit{C.~Roos} [Geom. Dedicata 10, 219--222 (1981; Zbl 0463.51012)] showed that \(s\) and \(t\) are bounded from above by functions in \(t\) and \(s\); respectively. In the present paper the authors show that for thick regular near \(2d\)-gons of order \((s, t)\), \(t\) is bounded from above by a function of \(s\) and the diameter \(d\). They obtain as a consequence the following result: If there are for given \(s\) and \(t\) only finitely many regular near \(2d\)-gons of order \((s, t)\), then for a regular near \(2d\)-gon of order \((s^\prime, t^\prime)\) the diameter \(d\) is bounded by a function of \(s^\prime\).