Partitioning projective geometries into Segre varieties (Q2563489)

Let \(m,k \in\mathbb{N} \backslash \{1\}\), \(n: =m \cdot k\), \(\Pi\) a projective space with \(\dim\Pi=n-1\) and \({\mathcal F}\) a spread of \(\Pi\) consisting of \((m-1)\)-dimensional projective subspaces of \(\Pi\). \({\mathcal F}\) is called regular (of rank \(k-1)\) if for each \((k-1)\)-dim. subspace \(\Lambda\) of \(\Pi\) meeting each member of \({\mathcal F}\) in at most one point, the set \([\Lambda]: =\cup \{X\in {\mathcal F} \mid X\cap \Lambda \neq\emptyset\}\) is an \((m-1)\)-regulus of rank \(k-1\). If \(H,K,L\) are fields with \(H\leq K\leq L\) and \([L:K] =k\), \([K:H] =m\) hence \([L:H] =m \cdot k=n\), if \(\Pi: =L^x/H^x\) is the projective space corresponding to the vector space \((L,H)\) and \({\mathcal F}: =\{a\cdot K^x/H^x \mid a\in L^x: =L\backslash \{0\}\}\) the projective subspaces corresponding to the vector subspaces \(\{a \cdot K\mid a\in L^x\}\) then \({\mathcal F}\) is a regular spread of rank \(k-1\). The authors consider finite projective spaces, and their results can be obtained from these facts on projective incidence groups: 1. \(PG(n-1,q)\) has a regular \((m-1)\)-spread. 2. and 3. If \((m,k) =1\), \(L: =GF(q^n)\), \(K_1: =GF(q^m)\), \(K_2: =GF(q^k)\), \(H:= GF(q)\), \(\Pi: =L^x/H^x\), \(\Pi_i: =K^x_i/H^x\) then \({\mathcal F}_i: =\{a \cdot \Pi_i\mid a\in H\}\) are regular spreads and: (i) \(\forall X_i\in {\mathcal F}_i: |X_1 \cap X_2 |\leq 1\) (ii) \(\forall a\in \Pi\), \(a\cdot \Pi_1\cdot \Pi_2\) is a Segre variety \(SV_{m,k}\) and \({\mathcal P}: =\{a \cdot \Pi_1 \cdot \Pi_2 \mid a\in \Pi\}\) is a partition of \(\Pi\) with \(|{\mathcal P} |= {(q^n-1) (q-1) \over (q^m-1) (q^k -1)}\). 4. and 5. For \((m,k)\neq 1\) a partition of \(\Pi\) into Segre varieties \(SV_{m,k}\) is not possible.