Characterizations and properties of good eggs in PG(\(4n-1,q\)), \(q\) odd (Q2569932)

An egg \({\mathcal E}\) in \(\text{ PG}(2n+m-1,q)\) is a set of \(q^m+1\) \((n-1)\)-dimensional subspaces satisfying the following properties: (i) every three distinct elements of \({\mathcal E}\) generate a \((3n-1)\)-dimensional subspace; (ii) through every \(E \in {\mathcal E}\), there exists an \((n+m-1)\)-dimensional subspace (the so-called tangent space at \(E\)) disjoint from all elements of \({\mathcal E} \setminus \{ E \}\). Examples of eggs are obtained by considering an oval in \(\text{PG}(2,q^n)\) or an ovoid in \(\text{PG}(3,q^n)\) in the ambient space over \(\text{GF}(q)\). These examples of eggs are called elementary. Suppose now that \(2n=m\). An egg \({\mathcal E}\) of \(\text{PG}(4n-1,q)\) is called good at the element \(E \in {\mathcal E}\) if every \((3n-1)\)-dimensional subspace generated by \(E\) and two other elements of \({\mathcal E}\) contains precisely \(q^n+1\) egg elements. The author proves that a good egg of \(\text{PG}(4n-1,q)\), \(q\) odd, is isomorphic to an ovoid of \(\text{PG}(3,q^n)\) seen over \(\text{GF}(q)\) if and only if there exists a \((3n-1)\)-space skew from the good element and containing at least five egg elements. For each of the three known classes of nonelementary eggs in \(\text{PG}(4n-1,q)\), the author obtains strong restraints on the intersection of the egg elements with \((3n-1)\)-spaces spanned by three distinct egg elements.