An investigation of the tangent splash of a subplane of \(\mathrm{PG}(2,q^3)\) (Q494580)

Consider a subplane \(\pi\) of order \(q\) in \(\mathrm{PG}(2,q^3)\), that is tangent to a particular line, called \(\ell_\infty\). The tangent splash of \(\pi\) is the set of \(q^2+1\) points on \(\ell_\infty\), that belong to a line of \(\pi\). This article investigates properties of tangent splashes. Let \(T\) be the unique intersection point of \(\pi\) with the line \(\ell_\infty\). The investigation includes: (1) study of order-\(q\)-sublines contained in a tangent splash. It is proven that the unique order-\(q\)-subline of \(\ell_\infty\), containing the center \(T\) and two further points of the tangent splash is completely contained in the tangent splash. (2) The collineation group \(\mathrm{PGL}(3,q^3)\) acts transitively on the tangent splashes of a given line \(\ell_\infty\). (3) The authors count the number of tangent splashes of a given line \(\ell_\infty\) of \(\mathrm{PG}(2,q^3)\). (4) The authors investigate the problem of how many points are required to define a unique order-\(q\)-subplane with a given tangent splash. Using coordinates, the authors prove that a tangent splash of \(\mathrm{PG}(2,q^3)\) is a \(\mathrm{GF}(q)\)-linear set of rank 3 and size \(q^2+1\). This then makes it possible to prove that a tangent splash contains \(q^2+q\) order-\(q\)-sublines, which all contain the center \(T\). Then a tangent splash is considered in the Bruck-Bose representation in \(\mathrm{PG}(6,q)\). In this Bruck-Bose representation, a tangent splash corresponds to a set of \(q^2+1\) planes contained in a 2-regular spread of \(\mathrm{PG}(5,q)\). Via the linear set equivalence, it is shown that a tangent splash in \(\mathrm{PG}(5,q)\) has a set of \(q^2+q+1\) cover planes, which meet the plane representing the center \(T\) in distinct lines, and which meet all the other cover planes of the tangent splash in distinct points.