A half 3-Moufang quadrangle is Moufang (Q2471472)

Let \(S=(P,L,I)\) be a generalized quadrangle every point (line) of which is incident with at least three lines (points). If \(G\) is the automorphism group of \(S,\) denote by \(G_x\) the stabilizer of an element \(x \in P \cup L.\) For \(x_1,x_2, \dots x_k, \in P\cup L,\) let \(G^{[x_1,\dots,x_k]}\) be the stabilizer in \(G\) of all elements incident with \(x_1,\dots,x_k.\) A root \({\mathcal R}=\{y_0,y_1,y_2,y_3,y_4\}\) is the set of elements of a path of length \(4\) in the incidence graph of \(S.\) Hence there are two kinds of roots: the ones containing \(3\) lines and the ones containing \(3\) points. A root \(\mathcal R\) is called Moufang if the group \(G^{[y_0,y_1,y_2,y_3,y_4]}\) acts transitively on the quadrangle of \(S\) containing \(\mathcal R.\) A generalized quadrangle is Moufang if every root is Moufang. A generalized quadrangle \(S\) is said half Moufang if all roots of one kind are Moufang. It has been proved by \textit{J. A. Thas, S. E. Payne} and \textit{H. Van Maldeghem} [Invent. Math. 105, No. 1, 153--156 (1991; Zbl 0708.51010)] that half Moufang implies Moufang when \(S\) is finite. A generalized quadrangle \(S\) is said half \(3\)-Moufang if for any root of one type \({\mathcal R}=\{y_0,y_1,y_2,y_3,y_4\},\) the group \(G_{y_0}^{[y_2,y_3]}\) acts transitively on the quadrangle containing \(\mathcal R.\) In this paper the authors prove that a generalized quadrangle is Moufang if and only if it is half \(3\)-Moufang.