Hyperfield extensions, characteristic one and the Connes-Consani plane connection

Inspired by a recent paper of Alain Connes and Catherina Consani which connects the geometric theory surrounding the elusive field with one element to sharply transitive group actions on finite and infinite projective spaces ("Singer actions"), we consider several fudamental problems and conjectures about Singer actions. Among other results, we show that virtually all infinite abelian groups and all (possibly infinitely generated) free groups act as Singer groups on certain projective planes, as a corollary of a general criterion. We investigate for which fields $\mathbb{F}$ the plane $\mathbf{P}^2(\mathbb{F}) = \mathbf{PG}(2,\mathbb{F})$ (and more generally the space $\mathbf{P}^n(\mathbb{F}) = \mathbf{PG}(n,\mathbb{F})$) admits a Singer group, and show, e.g., that for any prime $p$ and any positive integer $n > 1$, $\mathbf{PG}(n,\overline{\mathbb{F}_p})$ cannot admit Singer groups. One of the main results in characteristic $0$, also as a corollary of a criterion which applies to many other fields, is that $\mathbf{PG}(m,\mathbb{R})$ with $m \ne 0$ a positive even integer, cannot admit Singer groups.Comment: 25 pages; submitted (June 2014). arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1406.544

Secret-Sharing Matroids need not be Algebraic

We combine some known results and techniques with new ones to show that there exists a non-algebraic, multi-linear matroid. This answers an open question by Matus (Discrete Mathematics 1999), and an open question by Pendavingh and van Zwam (Advances in Applied Mathematics 2013). The proof is constructive and the matroid is explicitly given

A convex combinatorial property of compact sets in the plane and its roots in lattice theory

K. Adaricheva and M. Bolat have recently proved that if $U_0$ and $U_1$ are circles in a triangle with vertices $A_0,A_1,A_2$, then there exist $j\in \{0,1,2\}$ and $k\in\{0,1\}$ such that $U_{1-k}$ is included in the convex hull of $U_k\cup(\{A_0,A_1, A_2\}\setminus\{A_j\})$. One could say disks instead of circles. Here we prove the existence of such a $j$ and $k$ for the more general case where $U_0$ and $U_1$ are compact sets in the plane such that $U_1$ is obtained from $U_0$ by a positive homothety or by a translation. Also, we give a short survey to show how lattice theoretical antecedents, including a series of papers on planar semimodular lattices by G. Gratzer and E. Knapp, lead to our result.Comment: 28 pages, 7 figure

On the number of simple arrangements of five double pseudolines

We describe an incremental algorithm to enumerate the isomorphism classes of double pseudoline arrangements. The correction of our algorithm is based on the connectedness under mutations of the spaces of one-extensions of double pseudoline arrangements, proved in this paper. Counting results derived from an implementation of our algorithm are also reported.Comment: 24 pages, 16 figures, 6 table

Combinatorial geometries of field extensions

We classify the algebraic combinatorial geometries of arbitrary field extensions of transcendence degree greater than 4 and describe their groups of automorphisms. Our results and proofs extend similar results and proofs by Evans and Hrushovski in the case of algebraically closed fields. The classification of projective planes in algebraic combinatorial geometries in arbitrary fields of characteristic zero will also be given.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figur