Glued near polygons (Q5949034)

A partial linear space \((P,L)\) \((P\) set points, \(L\) set of lines) is called a near polygon if the diameter of its point graph is finite and if for every pair \((p,l)\in P\times L\) there is a unique point \(q\in P\) on \(l\) nearest to \(p\) with respect to the natural distance defined on the graph. The author constructs some new near polygons from spreads of symmetry in generalized quadrangles. Let \(k\) be a positive integer. For every \(i\in\{1, \dots, k\}\) let \(Q_i\) be a generalized quadrangle of order \((s,t_i)\) and let \(S_i\) be a spread of \(Q_i\). Under special assumptions a partial linear space \(S\) with the point set \(L_1^{(1)} \times S_1\times \cdots\times S_k\) can be defined (here \(L_1^{(1)}\) is the base line of \(S_1)\). The definition of the lines of \(S\) is rather complicated and may be omitted here. The paper gives necessary and sufficient conditions for the partial linear space \(S\) to be a near polygon. These conditions lead to a construction of some new near polygons which are called glued near polygons. It should be remarked that the same author has already studied the case of glued near hexagons in an earlier paper [J. Algebr. Comb. 11, 211-226 (2000; Zbl 0961.51004)].