Generalized quadrangles with a spread of symmetry (Q1970070)

An incidence system of points and blocks is called a Steiner system \(S(t,k,v)\) if there exactly \(v\) points, every block is incident with exactly \(k\) points and every \(t\) different points are incident with exactly one block. A partial spread of a Steiner system is a set of mutually disjoint blocks. Describe a procedure which will give generalized quadrangles. 1. Start with a Steiner system \({\mathcal D}=S(t,k,v)\) with \(1<k\leq v\) and let \(P\) be the set of its points. The number of blocks through a point is \((v-1)/(k-1)\). Hence we can put \(k=s+1\) and \(v=st+1\). The total number of blocks is equal to \((v^2-v)/(k^2-k)\), so \(s+1\) devides \(t(t-1)\). 2. Find a multiplicative group \(G\) of order \(s+1\) and a map \(\delta:P\times P\to G\) (\((x,y)\mapsto \delta_{xy}\)) such that the points \(x,y,z\) collinear if and only if \(\delta_{xy}\delta_{yz}=\delta_{xz}\). If this holds, then we say that the triple \(({\mathcal D},G,\delta)\) is admissible. In this case, one has that \(\delta_{xx}=e\) (the identity element of the group \(G\)) and \(\delta_{yx}=\delta_{xy}^{-1}\) far all \(x,y \in P\). Theorem 3.1. Suppose \(({\mathcal D},G,\delta)\) is an admissible triple. Let \(\Gamma\) be the graph with the vertex set \(G\times P\), two different vertices \((g_1,x)\) and \((g_2,y)\) are adjacent whenever: (a) \(x=y\) and \(g_1\neq g_2\) or (b) \(x\neq y\) and \(g_2=g_1\delta_{xy}\). Then \(\Gamma\) is the collinearity graph of a \(GQ(s,t)\). Theorem 3.2. Let \(\mathcal Q\) be a generalized quadrangle arising from an admissible triple \(({\mathcal D},G,\delta)\). For each \(x\in P\), let \(L_x= \{(g,x)\;|\;g\in G\}\). Then \(S=\{L_x\;|\;x\in P\}\) is a spread of \(\mathcal Q\) and there exist \(s+1\) different automorphisms of \(\mathcal Q\) fixing each line od \(S\). Let \(G_S\) be the group of automorphisms of \(\mathcal Q\) which fix each line of \(S\). A spread of symmetry is a spread \(S\) satisfying the following property: for every \(K,L\in S\) and every two lines meeting \(K\) and \(L\), there exist an automorphism \(\theta\in G_S\) such that \(M^\theta=N\). If \(\mathcal Q\) is not a grid (\(s>1\)), then \(S\) is a spread of symmetry if and only if \(|G_S|=s+1\). All grids and dual grids are derivable from an admissible triple. All spreads of symmetry of all known GQs of order \((s,s+2)\) are determined in \S\ 6.