Two incidence propositions in chain geometries (Q766207)

In the first half of the paper, the authors deal with Jordan systems of an associative \(F\)-algebra \(A\) with \(1\); \(F\) is a field and \(A^{*}\) denotes the group of units of \(A\). An element \(a\in A\) is called \textit{quadratic}, if there exists an \(\bar a\in A\) with \(a+{\bar a}\in F\) and \(a\cdot{\bar a}\in F\); \(a\cdot{\bar a}=:N(a)\). We say that \(a,c\in A^{*}\) form a \textit{kinematic pair}, if \(a\), \(c\) and \(a\cdot c\) are quadratic and \(N(a\cdot c)=N(a)N(c)\). One speaks of a \textit{Jordan system} \(J\) of \(A\), if (1) \(J\) is a subspace of \(A\) (considered as \(F\)-vector space) with \(1\in J\) and (2) \(a^{-1}\in J\) for all \(a\in J^{*}=J\cap A^{*}\). Put \(e(a):=\{k\in F : a-k\in J^{*}\}\). For a \textit{strong} Jordan system \(J\) holds \(|F\setminus e(a)|<|e(a)|\) for all \(a\in J\). A Jordan system \(J\) is said to be \textit{kinematic}, if each element of \(J\) is quadratic. A Jordan system \(J\) is \textit{nearquadratic} provided for every quadratic \(a,b\) with \(a,b\in J^{*}\setminus F\) holds that \(a,b\) form a kinematic pair. In the second half of the paper chain spaces \(\Sigma\) are investigated. For different chains \(C\), \(D\) the relation \@ (``\(C\) and \(D\) meet each other intensively'') is defined by \[ C\@D:\Leftrightarrow\enspace|C\cap D|=2\text{ or } CpD \] where \(p\) denotes the contact relation. The authors are interested in chain geometries with the following two incidence propositions: (\textbf{Z}) Let \(A,B,C\) be three different chains with \(A\cap B\cap C=\emptyset\). Then \(A\@B\) and \(A\@C\) and \(B\cap C\not=\emptyset\) imply \(B\@C\). (\textbf{B}) For mutually distant points \(p_1,\dots,p_4,q_1\dots,q_4\) put \(P_i:=\{p_i,q_i\}\) for \(i=1,\dots,4\). If there exist chains \(C_{ij}\), \(i<j\), containing \(P_i\) and \(P_j\) for \(i=1,2\) and \(j\in\{2,3,4\}\), then there exists also a chain \(C_{34}\) containing \(P_3\) and \(P_4\). The authors prove: {\parindent=6mm \begin{itemize}\item[(1)] Let \(J\) be a strong Jordan system of an \(F\)-algebra \(R\), where \(J\) has finite dimension or \(|F|>5\). Then the following three statements are equivalent: {\parindent=12mm \begin{itemize}\item[(i)] \(J\) is kinematic. \item[(ii)] In the chain geometry \(\Sigma(F,R,J)\) every proper \(4\)-space is a Benz plane. \item[(iii)] In the chain geometry \(\Sigma(F,R,J)\) the incidence proposition (\textbf{Z}) is valid. \end{itemize}} \item[(2)] Let \(J\) be a strong Jordan system of an \(F\)-algebra \(R\), where \(J\) has finite dimension or \(|F|>5\). Then in \(\Sigma(F,R,J)\) from (\textbf{Z}) follows (\textbf{B}) in all its degenerations. \item[(3)] Let \(A\) be an \(F\)-algebra for which \(|F\setminus e(a)|+8<|e(a)|\) for all \(a\in A\) is satisfied. Then \(A\) is nearquadratic if and only if, in \(\Sigma(F,A,A)\) the incidence proposition (\textbf{B}) is valid. \end{itemize}}