On a theorem by Benson and Conway (Q856335)

Descriptions of a modular lattice of finite height as subspace lattice of a geometry on the ordered point set of join irreducibles have been given by \textit{U. Faigle} and \textit{C. Herrmann} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 266, 319--332 (1981; Zbl 0466.51001)], \textit{D. J. Benson} and \textit{J. H. Conway} [J. Pure Appl. Algebra 37, 111--116 (1985; Zbl 0575.06008)], and \textit{C. Herrmann} and \textit{M. Wild} [J. Algebra 136, 17--36 (1991; Zbl 0725.16014)]. The case of infinite height has been dealt with by \textit{C. Herrmann, D. Pickering} and \textit{M. Roddy} [Algebra Univers. 31, 365--396 (1994; Zbl 0816.06008)]. In particular, the congruence structure of the lattice and subdirect decompositions can be captured in these geometries via connected components. Including all collinearities leads to a handy axiomatization. For the purposes of representation theory and for calculations a minimum number is more convenient: it suffices to consider, for each \(a\) which is a join of two points, a single maximal set of points any two of which have join \(a\), a so-called (dotted) line. The author reviews these results and techniques and points out how they can be used in the computation of submodule lattices and their decomposition into directly indecomposables.