The projective line over a ring which is direct product of commutative fields (Q1899082)

The authors use distance relations to give a characterization of the group \(\text{PGL}_2(R)\) in its natural action on the projective line \(P(R)\), where \(R\) is a direct product of commutative fields (generalizing a theorem of Petkantschin and Tits). They also give an application to chain geometries.