Absolute points of continuous and smooth polarities (Q5943571)

In [Adv. Geom. 1, 333-344 (2001; Zbl 0997.51003)], the author studied unitals in terms of intersection properties with lines and gave a definition suitable for the topological case. Prime examples are the sets of absolute points of the standard polarities in the classical projective planes over \({\mathbb R}\), \({\mathbb C}\), \({\mathbb H}\) or \({\mathbb O}\). These sets are either empty or homeomorphic to spheres of codimension 1 in the point space or of dimension \(\frac{3}{2}l-1\) where \(l\in\{2,4,8\}\) is the dimension of the base field over \({\mathbb R}\). In the paper under review the author extends ideas developed for spherical unitals in his earlier paper [loc. cit.] and investigates topological polar unitals \(U\), that is, sets of absolute points of continuous polarities, in compact connected projective planes from a topological point of view. He shows that \(U\) and every intersection with a secant are \({\mathbb Z}_2\)-homology spheres. In case of 4-dimensional compact connected projective planes a new proof is given of the well known fact that each topological polar unital is either a topological oval or each secant intersects it in a circle. The author also outlines how non-classical examples of topological polar unitals can be found in certain generalisations of topological shift planes. Much more can be said for smooth polar unitals, that is, sets of absolute points of smooth polarities, in smooth projective planes. The author shows that such a unital \(U\) is a smooth submanifold of the point space \(P\) and that each secant intersects \(U\) transversally. If \(U\) has codimension 1 in \(P\), then \(P\setminus U\) consists of exactly two connected components which can be distinguished by the fact that there are no tangents or exterior lines through any point of one of the components whereas each point of the other component admits secants, tangents and exterior lines through it. If the codimension of \(U\) in \(P\) is bigger than 1, then there are no exterior lines. Using various homology groups and Alexander duality the author further shows that only the same dimensions as for the classical unitals can occur.