On line-parallelisms of \(\mathrm{PG}(3,q)\) (Q7285333)

The paper studies a class of line parallelisms of the three-dimensional finite projective space \(PG(3,q)\). The parallelisms under consideration contain a fixed Desarguesian spread \({\mathcal D}\) and \(q^2+q\) Hall spreads, each obtained by switching one of the \(q^2+q\) reguli of the Desarguesian spread through a fixed spread line \(g\); moreover, they admit an elementary abelian automorphism group \(E\) of order \(q^2\).\N\NThe authors fix a Desarguesian spread \(\mathcal D\) and the line \(g\). Working in the ambient space \(PG(3,q^2)\), they consider the extension \(\overline g\) of \(g\) and suitable point-plane pairs \((x,\pi)\), where \(x\) is a point of \(\overline g\) and \(\pi\) is a plane containing \(\overline g\). The points and planes are chosen in relation to auxiliary Baer subgeometries, so that each pair determines a Baer subpencil containing \(q\) lines that determine the relevant Desarguesian spreads. A set of \(q+1\) such point-plane pairs is called \emph{good} if the associated reguli of \(\mathcal D\) are pairwise distinct and the Hall spreads obtained by switching these reguli are pairwise disjoint.\N\NThe good sets are then reinterpreted as a set of \(q+1\) points in \(PG(2,q^2)\) with the property that these \(q+1\) points form simultaneous transversals for a family of \(q+1\) lines and for a second family of \(q+1\) unions of conics. These two transversal conditions are precisely what guarantees the required compatibility of the switched Hall spreads.\N\NThe main results are as follows. Let \(\mathcal T\) denote the class of line parallelisms under consideration, namely those admitting the elementary abelian group \(E\), containing the fixed Desarguesian spread \(\mathcal D\), and having all remaining spreads obtained by switching the \(q^2+q\) reguli of \(\mathcal D\) through the fixed spread line.\N\N\textbf{Theorem 1.} A set \(\mathcal P\) of \(q+1\) point-plane pairs gives rise to a line parallelism \(\Pi_{\mathcal P}\) of the above form if and only if \(\mathcal P\) is good. Conversely, every parallelism in \(\mathcal T\) is obtained from a good set in this way.\N\NThus, the good sets provide a geometric characterization of the \(E\)-invariant line parallelisms in \(\mathcal T\).\N\N\textbf{Theorem 2.} The class \(\mathcal T\) contains at least \(\Theta(q^{q-1}q!)\) pairwise non-equivalent parallelisms for even \(q\), and at least \(\Theta(q^{2q-3})\) pairwise non-equivalent parallelisms for odd \(q\).\N\NNote that the construction includes the classical parallelism of Beutelspacher as a special case.