On hyperovals of polar spaces (Q2638406)

Let \(\mathcal P\) be a polar space of rank \(r\geq 2\). A hyperoval of \(\mathcal P\) is a nonempty set of points of \(\mathcal P\) which intersect every singular line of \(\mathcal P\) in either 0 or 2 points. If \(r\geq 4\), then every hyperoval of \(\mathcal P\) is a complement of some hyperplane of \(\mathcal P\) (and \(W(2r-1,q)\), \(q\) odd, \(H(2r-1,q^2)\), \(H(2r,q^2)\) has no hyperovals). In the case \(r=2\) lower and upper bounds for the size of hyperoval are known. In this paper lower and upper bounds for the size of hyperoval in the case \(r=3\) are derived (Theorem 1.1). Also it is given a computer-free proof for the uniqueness of the hyperoval of size 126 of \(H(5,4)\) and it is proved that the near hexagon \({\mathbf E}_3\) has a unique full embedding into the dual polar space \(DH(5,4)\).