A group theoretic characterization of classical unitals (Q438741)

Let \(PG(2,q^2)\), \(q=p^h\), \(p\) prime, be the projective plane over the Galois field with \(q^2\) elements. A unital in \(PG(2,q^2)\) is a set of \(q^3+1\) points intersecting every line of \(PG(2,q^2)\) in \(1\) or \(q+1\) points. Lines meeting the unital in \(1\) or \(q+1\) points are called tangent and secant respectively. A non-degenerate Hermitian curve is an example of a unital (classical unital). In this paper the authors prove that a unital \(\mathcal{U}\) is a classical unital if and only if there exist two points in \(\mathcal{U}\) such that the stabilizer of these two points in the stabilizer group \(G\) of \(\mathcal{U}\) has order \(q^2-1\).