On 4-dimensional elation Laguerre planes admitting simple Lie groups of automorphisms (Q4229355)

A semi-classical Laguerre plane is a Laguerre plane obtained by pasting together two halves of a classical Laguerre plane. In [Forum Math. 2, 233-247 (1990; Zbl 0746.51008)] the author constructed 4-dimensional Laguerre planes by pasting together two halves of the classical complex Laguerre plane along a 3-dimensional separating set. An elation Laguerre plane is a Laguerre plane that admits a subgroup that fixes all parallel classes and acts sharply transitively on the set of circles. Elation Laguerre planes have been discussed by the author in [Monatsh. Math. 111, 207-231 (1991; Zbl 0696.51008)] and in [Math. Z. 216, 347-369 (1994; Zbl 0806.51009)] \textit{R. Löwen} presented a construction of 4-dimensional elation Laguerre planes using pseudo-ovals. In the present paper 4-dimensional elation Laguerre planes that admit a large group of automorphisms are discussed. The key result states that any 4-dimensional elation Laguerre plane admitting a simple Lie group of automorphisms is semi-classical. The converse is true rather trivially. This together with some more technical results obtained along the proof produces various characterizations of semi-classical and classical 4-dimensional Laguerre planes in terms of their automorphism groups. Although the second part of the paper is entirely concerned with 4-dimensional elation Laguerre planes admitting simple Lie groups of automorphisms, the first part offers a highly recommendable introduction to 4-dimensional elation Laguerre planes. The extensive list of references provided makes this introduction just perfect. The first part demonstrates also that if one assumes that the Laguerre plane given is an elation Laguerre plane the proofs of some characterization results become much more easy. For example the author shows with surprisingly little effort that any 4-dimensional elation Laguerre plane admitting an automorphism group of dimension at least 11 is classical.