A geometric characterisation of Desarguesian spreads

We provide a characterisation of $(n-1)$-spreads in $\mathrm{PG}(rn-1,q)$ that have $r$ normal elements in general position. In the same way, we obtain a geometric characterisation of Desarguesian $(n-1)$-spreads in $\mathrm{PG}(rn-1,q)$, $r>2$

Characterisations of elementary pseudo-caps and good eggs

In this note, we use the theory of Desarguesian spreads to investigate good eggs. Thas showed that an egg in $\mathrm{PG}(4n-1, q)$, $q$ odd, with two good elements is elementary. By a short combinatorial argument, we show that a similar statement holds for large pseudo-caps, in odd and even characteristic. As a corollary, this improves and extends the result of Thas, Thas and Van Maldeghem (2006) where one needs at least 4 good elements of an egg in even characteristic to obtain the same conclusion. We rephrase this corollary to obtain a characterisation of the generalised quadrangle $T_3(\mathcal{O})$ of Tits. Lavrauw (2005) characterises elementary eggs in odd characteristic as those good eggs containing a space that contains at least 5 elements of the egg, but not the good element. We provide an adaptation of this characterisation for weak eggs in odd and even characteristic. As a corollary, we obtain a direct geometric proof for the theorem of Lavrauw

Pseudo-ovals in even characteristic and ovoidal Laguerre planes

Pseudo-arcs are the higher dimensional analogues of arcs in a projective plane: a pseudo-arc is a set $\mathcal{A}$ of $(n-1)$-spaces in $\mathrm{PG}(3n-1,q)$ such that any three span the whole space. Pseudo-arcs of size $q^n+1$ are called pseudo-ovals, while pseudo-arcs of size $q^n+2$ are called pseudo-hyperovals. A pseudo-arc is called elementary if it arises from applying field reduction to an arc in $\mathrm{PG}(2,q^n)$. We explain the connection between dual pseudo-ovals and elation Laguerre planes and show that an elation Laguerre plane is ovoidal if and only if it arises from an elementary dual pseudo-oval. The main theorem of this paper shows that a pseudo-(hyper)oval in $\mathrm{PG}(3n-1,q)$, where $q$ is even and $n$ is prime, such that every element induces a Desarguesian spread, is elementary. As a corollary, we give a characterisation of certain ovoidal Laguerre planes in terms of the derived affine planes

Field reduction and linear sets in finite geometry

Based on the simple and well understood concept of subfields in a finite field, the technique called `field reduction' has proved to be a very useful and powerful tool in finite geometry. In this paper we elaborate on this technique. Field reduction for projective and polar spaces is formalized and the links with Desarguesian spreads and linear sets are explained in detail. Recent results and some fundamental ques- tions about linear sets and scattered spaces are studied. The relevance of field reduction is illustrated by discussing applications to blocking sets and semifields

Subgeometries in the Andr\'e/Bruck-Bose representation

We consider the Andr\'e/Bruck-Bose representation of the projective plane $\mathrm{PG}(2,q^n)$ in $\mathrm{PG}(2n,q)$. We investigate the representation of $\mathbb{F}_{q^k}$-sublines and $\mathbb{F}_{q^k}$-subplanes of $\mathrm{PG}(2,q^n)$, extending the results for $n=3$ of \cite{BarJack2} and correcting the general result of \cite{BarJack1}. We characterise the representation of $\mathbb{F}_{q^k}$-sublines tangent to or contained in the line at infinity, $\mathbb{F}_q$-sublines external to the line at infinity, $\mathbb{F}_q$-subplanes tangent to and $\mathbb{F}_{q^k}$-subplanes secant to the line at infinity

On some subvarieties of the Grassmann variety

Let $\mathcal S$ be a Desarguesian $(t-1)$--spread of $PG(rt-1,q)$, $\Pi$ a $m$-dimensional subspace of $PG(rt-1,q)$ and $\Lambda$ the linear set consisting of the elements of $\mathcal S$ with non-empty intersection with $\Pi$. It is known that the Pl\"{u}cker embedding of the elements of $\mathcal S$ is a variety of $PG(r^t-1,q)$, say ${\mathcal V}_{rt}$. In this paper, we describe the image under the Pl\"{u}cker embedding of the elements of $\Lambda$ and we show that it is an $m$-dimensional algebraic variety, projection of a Veronese variety of dimension $m$ and degree $t$, and it is a suitable linear section of ${\mathcal V}_{rt}$.Comment: Keywords: Grassmannian, linear set, Desarguesian spread, Schubert variet