A remark on the action of \(\text{PGL}(2,q)\) and \(\text{PSL}(2,q)\) on the projective line (Q676415)

Let \(q\) be a prime power, \(K=\text{GF}(q)\) the finite field with \(q\) elements, \(\Omega=K\cup\{\infty\}\) the projective line over \(K\). Let \(L=\text{PGL}(2,q)\) and \(S=\text{PSL}(2,q)\) be the linear fractional group on \(\Omega\) and the special linear fractional group on \(\Omega\), respectively. Let \(U\) be any non-trivial subgroup of the multiplicative group \(K\setminus\{0\}\) and set \(E=U\cup\{\infty\}\). The main purpose of this note is to determine the structures of \(L_E\) and \(S_E\), the setwise stabilizers of \(E\) in \(L\) and \(S\), respectively. Then, as an application, by taking various \(q\) and \(U\), the authors obtain various 3-designs \((\Omega,E^L)\) and 3 (resp. 2)-designs \((\Omega,E^S)\) in case \(q\equiv-1\) (resp. \(q\equiv 1)\pmod 4\). Some of these designs fill in several blanks of the table of \textit{Y. M. Chee, C. J. Colbourn} and \textit{D. L. Kreher} [Ars Comb. 29, 193-258 (1990; Zbl 0719.05011)].