Enumeration of orthogonal Buekenhout unitals (Q970531)

A unital is any \((n^3+1,n+1,1)-\)design, for some \(n >2.\) Let \(\mathcal S\) be a spread of \(PG(3,q)\) and let \(\pi({\mathcal S})\) be the translation plane associated with \(\mathcal S\) (whose points are the points of \(PG(4,q)\setminus PG(3,q)\) and the elements of \(\mathcal S,\) and whose lines are the distinguished \(PG(3,q)\) and the planes of \(PG(4,q)\) meeting \(PG(3,q)\) in a line of \(\mathcal S\)). Using such a model for the plane, Buekenhout gave a construction of a unital embedded in \(\pi({\mathcal S})\) by using a quadratic cone of \(PG(4,q),\) which projects an elliptic quadric of a 3-dimensional subspace of \(PG(4,q)\) different from the distinguished \(PG(3,q).\) In this paper the authors develop general techniques for enumerating the unitals of this type and they apply these techniques in the odd-order regular nearfield planes, the Hall planes and the flag-transitive planes.