Deletions, extensions, and reductions of elliptic semiplanes (Q447741)

A (tactical) configuration of type \((n_r, b_k)\) is a finite incidence structure consisting of a set of \(n\) points and a set of \(b\) lines such that {\parindent=7mm \begin{itemize}\item[(i)]each line is incident with exactly \(k\) points and each point is incident with exactly \(r\) lines, \item[(ii)] two distinct points are incident with at most one line. \end{itemize}} If \(n=b\) (or equivalently \(r=k\)), the configuration is called symmetric and its type is indicated with the symbol \(n_k\). The deficiency of a symmetric configuration \(\mathcal{C}\) is \(d:= n-k^2 +k-1.\) The deficiency is zero if and only if \(\mathcal C\) is a finite projective plane. Well-known examples of symmetric configurations are projective planes. Indeed, any finite projective plane of order \(q\) is a symmetric configuration of type \((q^2+q+1)_{q+1}\). Other examples include elliptic semiplanes. An elliptic semiplane of order \(\nu\) is a configuration of type \(n_{\nu+1}\) satisfying the following axioms of parallels: given a non-incident point-line pair \((p,l)\), there exists at most one line \(l'\) through \(p\) parallel to \(l\) (i.e., \(l\) and \(l'\) are not concurrent) and at most one point \(p'\) on \(l\) parallel to \(p\) (i.e., \(p\) and \(p'\) are not collinear). In this paper, the authors present three constructions which transform some symmetric configuration \(\mathcal{K}\) of type \(n_k\) into new symmetric configurations of types \((n+1)_k\), or \(n_{k-1}\), or \(( (\lambda-1)\mu )_{k-1}\) if \(n=\lambda \mu\). They apply this method to Desarguesian elliptic semiplanes, and derive an infinite family of new configurations. The types of these configurations fill large gaps in the parameter spectrum of symmetric configurations.