Holomorphic polygons (Q5961430)

The author investigates generalized \(n\)-gons \(({\mathcal P},{\mathcal L},{\mathcal F})\) where the point set \({\mathcal P}\) and the line set \({\mathcal L}\) are complex manifolds and such that the projection map \(f_{n-1}\) is holomorphic, where \(f_{n-1}(x,y)\) for two vertices, i.e., points or lines, \(x\), \(y\) of distance \(n-1\) is the unique element \(z\) incident with \(y\) and having distance \(n-2\) from \(x\). For \(n=3\) one obtains holomorphic projective planes. \textit{S. Breitsprecher} [Math. Z. 99, 429-432 (1967; Zbl 0147.38901) and Math. Z. 121, 157-174 (1971; Zbl 0229.50021)] proved that such a plane is isomorphic to the complex projective plane with its standard analytic structure. In his proof Breitsprecher shows that every line is a Riemann sphere and that the group of all projectivities is isomorphic to \(\text{PGL}_2\mathbb{C}\). Hence the plane is isomorphic to the complex projective plane by von Staudt's Theorem. Other differentiability conditions for projective or affine planes have been investigated by \textit{J. Otte} [`Differenzierbare Ebenen', Diss., Kiel (1992; Zbl 0837.51004)]. In the paper under review the author shows that a holomorphic polygon is biholomorphically isomorphic to one of the holomorphic Moufang polygons associated to the groups \(\text{PGL}_3\mathbb{C}\), \(\text{PSp}_4\mathbb{C}\cong \text{PSO}_5\mathbb{C}\) and \(\text{G}_2\mathbb{C}\), that is, the complex projective plane, the symplectic complex quadrangle or its dual, the complex orthogonal quadrangle in 4-dimensional complex projective space, and the complex split Cayley hexagon or its dual, respectively. The proof of this result follows a different path than Breitsprecher's proof for holomorphic projective planes. It is still shown that every line is a complex submanifold and biholomorphically equivalent to the Riemann sphere and that the group of all projectivities on a line is isomorphic to \(\text{PGL}_2\mathbb{C}\) acting in the usual way on the complex projective line. In particular, these results imply that \(n=3\), 4 or 6 according to \textit{N. Knarr} [Forum Math. 2, No. 6, 603-612 (1990; Zbl 0711.51002)]. Now the complex structure of a single line uniquely determines the complex structure on the point set \({\mathcal P}\) and the line set \({\mathcal L}\) of the polygon and there are precisely two complex structures that make the polygon into a holomorphic polygon. The crucial step in the proof of the author's result is to show that the derived incidence structure \({\mathfrak A}_p\) at a point \(p\) is isomorphic to the complex projective plane where \({\mathfrak A}_p\) has as point set the set of all points collinear to \(p\) and as line set the set of all lines of the polygon passing through \(p\) and the traces of all points of distance \(n-2\) from points of distance \(n\) from \(p\). This is achieved by an application of the Riemann-Roch Theorem. The method also provides a new proof for Breitsprecher's result on holomorphic projective planes. The assertion on the \(n\)-gons then follows from internal characterizations of the complex symplectic quadrangle (\(n=4\)) by \textit{A. Schroth} [Arch. Math. 58, No. 1, 98-104 (1992; Zbl 0761.51004)] and of the complex split Cayley hexagon (\(n=6\)) by \textit{A. Schroth} and \textit{H. van Maldeghem} [Geom. Dedicata 51, No. 3, 215-233 (1994; Zbl 0813.51011)].