On the number of nonisomorphic glued near hexagons (Q1840631)

In an earlier paper [Eur. J. Comb. 20, No. 8, 759--771 (1999; Zbl 0946.51007)], the author introduced a construction of near hexagons using two generalized quadrangles with spreads satisfying some additional properties, and he called the resulting near hexagon a glued near hexagon. The construction depends on a certain bijection \(\theta\) of the point set of one of the lines of the spread of the first quadrangle to one of the lines of the spread of the second quadrangle, and in the paper under review the author points out that different \(\theta\) can give rise to isomorphic glued near hexagons. He also obtains useful upper and lower bounds of the number of nonisomorphic glued hexagons fixing the two initial quadrangles and spreads. In particular some specific choice of the quadrangles gives rise to unique glued near hexagons of that type. The author well explains all notions and gives plenty of examples; so no preknowledge of the gluing construction is necessary to read this well written paper.