An affine characterization of Moufang projective Klingenberg planes (Q910707)

Let \({\mathcal P}\) be a projective Klingenberg plane (PK-plane), \({\mathcal P}^*\) the associated projective plane onto which \({\mathcal P}\) is mapped by an epimorphism \(\chi\) ; let \({\mathcal I}({\mathcal P})\) denote the set of all lines \(\ell\) of \({\mathcal P}\) such that the derived affine K-plane \({\mathcal P}^{\ell}\) is a translation K-plane. The authors show (3.2) that \({\mathcal I}({\mathcal P})\) may strictly contain the set of translation lines of \({\mathcal P}\). They strengthen a result of \textit{P. Y. Bacon} [An introduction to Klingenberg planes, Vol. 1, 2nd ed. (1976; Zbl 0372.50003)] by proving: A PK-plane \({\mathcal P}\) with \({\mathcal P}^*\neq PG(2,2)\) is Moufang iff \(\chi\) (\({\mathcal I}({\mathcal P}))\) contains a trilateral (4.2). This is best possible, since, unlike the case of ordinary projective planes, \({\mathcal I}({\mathcal P})\) may contain a whole pencil of lines (with only some neighbour lines missing) without being Moufang (4.2); likewise, \({\mathcal P}^{\ell}\) may be equiaffine for some \(\ell \in {\mathcal I}({\mathcal P})\) (3.3), cf. \textit{M. D'Angelo} [J. Geom. 15, 74-85 (1981; Zbl 0451.51003)].