Orthogonal geometries over GF(2) and actions of extra-special 2-groups on translation planes (Q792625)

The initial part of the article considers sets S of k points on a non- singular quadric Q in PG(r,2) no two of which are conjugate. Such sets S are called k-caps, which seems to the reviewer an unhappy usage as such sets are a particular case of k-caps as normally defined. The maximum value of k is calculated in all cases and is not in general the same as the maximum value of k for a k-cap in the usual sense lying on Q. It is shown that an ovoid exists on Q in the parabolic or hyperbolic case only for low values of r. When G is an extra-special 2-group, the vector space obtained from G/Z(G) gives rise to the quadrics Q. The main theorem considers such a group G with some added restrictions acting on a translation plane with kernel GF(q) and shows that \(d\leq 4\). Consequent propositions characterize (i) the Desarguesian and near-field planes with \(q=3\), (ii) the near-field and Walker planes when \(q=5\). The inspiration for the analysis was the paper by \textit{T. G. Ostrom} [J. Geom. 17, 128-139 (1981; Zbl 0473.51005)].