A class of Buekenhout unitals in the Hall plane (Q1914918)

A unital in a projective plane of order \(q^2\) is a set \(U\) of \(q^3 + 1\) points such that each line meets \(U\) in either 1 or \(q + 1\) points. The classical unital in a Desarguesian plane \(\pi\) is the set of absolute points of a unitary polarity. Convert \(\pi\) into an affine plane \(A\) by deleting a ``line at infinity'' which does not intersect the classical unital \(U\). Now derive \(A\) to obtain a Hall plane. Then the set of points \(U\) is a unital in the (projective version of) the Hall plane. The author shows that, regarded as designs (with the lines of \(\pi\) and \(\pi'\) as blocks) the two unitals are not isomorphic.