Semiovals from unions of conics (Q378447)

A semioval in a projective plane is a set of points \({\mathcal O}\) such that for every point \(P\) in the semioval there exists exactly one line of \(\pi\) meeting the semioval precisely in the point \(P\). The authors completely classify the sets of conics whose union forms a semioval by proving the following. Let \({\mathcal O}\) be a semioval in the Desargeusian plane \(\mathrm{PG}(2,q)\), that is the union of conics. Then \({\mathcal O}\) is a conic, or \(q\) is odd and \({\mathcal O}\) is either the union of at most \(\sqrt{q}\) conics all lying in a common pencil, or the union of three or four conics, no three in a common pencil.