On automorphism groups of a biplane \((121,16,2)\) (Q2037584)

A biplane \(D=(P,B)\) with parameters \((v,k,2)\) is an incidence structure consisting of a set \(P\) of \(v\) points and a set \(B\) of \(v\) blocks, each of which is a \(k\)-subset of \(P\), such that every pair of points lies in exactly 2 blocks. The largest set of parameters for which a biplane is known to exist is \((79, 13, 2)\). The next possible parameter triple for an existence of a biplane is \((121, 16, 2)\). While no example of a biplane with 121 points is known, several restrictions on the automorphism group of a hypothetical biplane \(D\) with parameters \((121, 16, 2)\) were proved in [\textit{S. H. Alavi} et al., Des. Codes Cryptography 88, No. 11, 2337--2359 (2020; Zbl 1462.05043)]. This paper contains further restriction on \(\Aut(D)\), where \(D\) is the hypothetical biplane with parameters \((121, 16, 2)\). These are \(|\Aut(D)|\) divides \(2^7\cdot 3^2 \cdot 5\cdot 7\); if \(G \leq \Aut (D)\) , then \(|G| \not\in \{14, 35\}\); if \(|G| = 21\), then \(G \simeq \mathrm{Frob}_{21}\); if \(|G| = 10\), then \(G \simeq D_{10}\).