Maximal exterior sets of hyperbolic quadrics: The complete classification (Q2640875)

An exterior set with respect to the hyperbolic quadric \(Q^+(2n-1,q)\) of \(PG(2n-1,q),\) \(n\geq 2\), is a set X of points such that each line joining two distinct elements of X has no point in common with \(Q^+(2n-1,q).\) For an exterior set X of \(Q^+(2n-1,q)\) we have \(| X| \leq (q^ n-1)/(q-1)\). If \(| X| =(q^ n-1)/(q-1)\) then X is said to be a maximal exterior set. In this paper a complete classification of all maximal exterior sets of \(Q^+(2n-1,q)\), \(n\geq 2\) is established. In fact, it is shown that the only maximal exterior sets of \(Q^+(2n-1,q),\) \(n\geq 2\), are (a) the unique maximal exterior set of \(Q^+(5,2),\) (b) the linear maximal exterior set of \(Q^+(3,q),\) (c) the Thas maximal exterior set of \(Q^+(3,q)\), q odd, and (d) the exceptional maximal exterior sets of \(Q^+(3,q)\), \(q=11\), 23, 59.