Filling the nest gaps (Q1908795)

One construction technique for constructing translation planes involves the replacement of \(\tau\)-nests in the geometry \(\text{PG}(3,q)\). One of the authors, \textit{G. L. Ebert} [Eur. J. Comb. 10, No. 4, 319-330 (1989; Zbl 0691.05009)], used this method to construct translation planes whose translation complement contains a direct product of two cyclic homology groups of order \(q+1\) with affine axis. Essentially, a \(\tau\)-nest is a set \({\mathcal N}\) of \(\tau\) reguli in a regular spread with the property that each line of \(\text{PG}(3,q)\) lies in exactly 0 or 2 of the reguli. The nest is replaceable if and only if a new spread is obtained by replacing the lines of \({\mathcal N}\) with lines from the opposite reguli, \((q+1)/2\) from each. The authors' idea is to replace a \(((q+1)/2+i)\)-nest for suitable values of \(i\). They discuss bounds on \(i\) and the collineation groups of the resulting planes. In particular, the planes have in the translation complement the direct product of two cyclic homology groups of order \((q+1)/2\) with affine axis. (By the nature of the construction the translation planes have dimension 2 over their kernel \(GF(q)\).) An interesting question, at least in the reviewer's opinion, is the following. \textit{N. L. Johnson} and \textit{R. Pomareda} [J. Geom. 56, No. 1-2, 59-86 (1996; Zbl 0855.51004)] have characterized the planes described in the first paragraph. Does a similar characterization exist for the translation planes of the last paragraph? It should also be noted that the concept of \(\tau\)-nest has a close connection with the concept of weighted circle introduced by \textit{F. A. Sherk} [J. Geom. 45, No. 1/2, 158-173 (1992; Zbl 0766.51018)]. The authors' construction appears to give a ``robust'' -- the authors' term -- class of nonisomorphic planes. However, they do not discuss the question of intersection with known classes of planes, except in certain small cases.