On Bruen chains (Q6615548)

Let \(q\) be an odd prime power, \(q \ge 5\), and let \(\mathcal{E}\) be an elliptic quadric of \(\mathrm{PG}(3, q)\) with associated quadratic form \(\mathrm{Q}\). A \textit{Bruen chain} is a set of \(\frac{q + 3}{2}\) conics of \(\mathcal{E}\) such that any two of them intersect in two points, and any three of them have empty intersection. The points of \(\mathrm{PG}(3, q) \setminus \mathcal{E}\) can be partitioned into two equally sized sets, say \(\mathbb{E}\) and \(\mathrm{PG}(3, q) \setminus (\mathbb{E} \cup \mathcal{E})\), according as the evaluation of \(\mathrm{Q}\) on these points is a square or it is not. Let \(\mathrm{cone}(P)\) be the cone having as vertex a point \(P \in \mathbb{E}\) and base \(P^\perp \cap \mathcal{E}\), where \(\perp\) denotes the polarity defining \(\mathcal{E}\).\N\NIn the present paper, by refining known results, it is shown that a Bruen chain can be seen as a pointset \(\mathcal{B}\) of size \(\frac{q + 3}{2}\) contained in \(\mathbb{E}\) and such that \(\mathrm{cone}(A) \cap \mathrm{cone}(B) \cap \mathrm{cone}(C) \subset \mathcal{E}\) for any three distinct points \(A,B,C \in \mathcal{B}\). Fix a point \(X \in \mathbb{E}\) and consider the subset \(\mathbb{V}\) of \(\mathbb{E} \setminus \{X\}\) consisting of points lying on an external line with \(X\). Let \(\Gamma_X\) be the graph having as vertices the \(\frac{q^3-q}{4}\) points of \(\mathbb{V}\), where two vertices \(A, B\) are adjacent whenever they are not collinear with \(X\) and \(\mathrm{cone}(A) \cap \mathrm{cone}(B) \cap \mathrm{cone}(X) \subset \mathcal{E}\). It is shown that the clique number \(\omega(\Gamma_X)\) is at most \(\frac{q+1}{2}\) and that cliques of size \(\frac{q+1}{2}\) of \(\Gamma_X\) are in one-to-one correspondence with Bruen chains. The sizes of a maximum clique of \(\Gamma_X\) are then calculated with the aid of a computer, whenever \(29\le q \le 97\), showing that there are no Bruen chains for \(41 \le q \le 97\). In particular, if \(q\) gets larger, these sizes are considerably smaller than \(\frac{q+1}{2}\), which adds validity to the conjectures that there are no further Bruen chains for \(q > 37\).