Tensor product and generalized Ott-Schaeffer planes (Q919264)

Let \(\Pi\) be a translation plane of order \(q^ 2\) and kernel \(K=GF(q)\); the author calls \(\Pi\) a tensor product plane if the translation- complement (under a suitable basis for the underlying vector space) contains a subgroup represented in the form \[ T=\{\left[ \begin{matrix} 1\\ 0\end{matrix} \begin{matrix} a\\ 1\end{matrix} \right]\otimes \left[ \begin{matrix} 1\\ 0\end{matrix} \begin{matrix} a\sigma \\ 1\end{matrix} \right]:\;a\in K,\quad \sigma \in Aut(K)\}. \] The plane \(\Pi\) is called a generalized Ott-Schaeffer plane if it admits in its translation complement a group B of order q such that each nontrivial element of B is Baer and no two nontrivial elements of B fix the same Baer subplane pointwise. If \(q=p^ r\) the author shows that \(p=2\) if \(\Pi\) is a tensor product plane, and \(p\leq 3\) if \(\Pi\) is a generalized Ott-Schaeffer plane. The author restricts himself to the case \(p=2\) and assumes the translation complement contains a subgroup H of order \(q(q-1).\) If \(\Pi\) is a tensor product plane the author further assumes that this group has the form TS, where \[ S=\{\left[ \begin{matrix} a\\ 0\end{matrix} \begin{matrix} 0\\ a^{-1}\end{matrix} \right]\otimes \left[ \begin{matrix} a\sigma \\ 0\end{matrix} \begin{matrix} \quad \\ a^{-1}\sigma \end{matrix} \right]:\;a\in K,\quad \sigma \in Aut(K)\}. \] The author then determines the spread for the plane \(\Pi\). The author then assumes that the group H satisfies \(HK^*/K^*\cong H\) and a Sylow 2-subgroup of H satisfies the conditions for B given above. (Here \(K^*\) is the group of kernel homologies.) The main result is that then H has the form of the preceding paragraph, and hence the plane has the spread determined by the author. The research in this article has been inspired by the Ott-Schaeffer planes which have groups isomorphic to T and to H. An open question is: Are there generalized Ott-Schaeffer planes other than the Ott-Schaeffer planes?