Polygonal valuations

AbstractWe develop a valuation theory for generalized polygons similar to the existing theory for dense near polygons. This valuation theory has applications for the study and classification of generalized polygons that have full subpolygons as subgeometries

On hyperovals of polar spaces

We derive lower and upper bounds for the size of a hyperoval of a finite polar space of rank 3. We give a computer-free proof for the uniqueness, up to isomorphism, of the hyperoval of size 126 of H(5, 4) and prove that the near hexagon E-3 has up to isomorphism a unique full embedding into the dual polar space DH(5, 4)

The nonexistence of regular near octagons with parameters (s, t, t(2), t(3)) = (2,24,0,8)

Let S be a regular near octagon with s + 1 = 3 points per line, let t + 1 denote the constant number of lines through a given point of S and for every two points x and y at distance i is an element of {2, 3} from each other, let t(i) + 1 denote the constant number of lines through y containing a (necessarily unique) point at distance i - 1 from x. It is known, using algebraic combinatorial techniques, that (t(2), t(3), t) must be equal to either (0, 0, 1), (0, 0, 4), (0, 3, 4), (0, 8, 24), (1, 2, 3), (2, 6, 14) or (4, 20, 84). For all but one of these cases, there is a unique example of a regular near octagon known. In this paper, we deal with the existence question for the remaining case. We prove that no regular near octagons with parameters (s, t, t(2), t(3)) = (2, 24, 0, 8) can exist

Dual embeddings of dense near polygons

Let e: S -> Sigma be a full polarized projective embedding of a dense near polygon S, i.e., for every point p of S, the set H(p) of points at non-maximal distance from p is mapped by e into a hyperplane Pi(p) of Sigma. We show that if every line of S is incident with precisely three points or if S satisfies a certain property (P(de)) then the map p bar right arrow Pi p defines a full polarized embedding e* (the so-called dual embedding of e) of S into a subspace of the dual Sigma* of Sigma. This generalizes a result of [6] where it was shown that every embedding of a thick dual polar space has a dual embedding. We determine which known dense near polygons satisfy property (P(de)). This allows us to conclude that every full polarized embedding of a known dense near polygon has a dual embedding

Characterizations of the Suzuki tower near polygons

In recent work, we constructed a new near octagon $\mathcal{G}$ from certain involutions of the finite simple group $G_2(4)$ and showed a correspondence between the Suzuki tower of finite simple groups, $L_3(2) < U_3(3) < J_2 < G_2(4) < Suz$, and the tower of near polygons, $\mathrm{H}(2,1) \subset \mathrm{H}(2)^D \subset \mathsf{HJ} \subset \mathcal{G}$. Here we characterize each of these near polygons (except for the first one) as the unique near polygon of the given order and diameter containing an isometrically embedded copy of the previous near polygon of the tower. In particular, our characterization of the Hall-Janko near octagon $\mathsf{HJ}$ is similar to an earlier characterization due to Cohen and Tits who proved that it is the unique regular near octagon with parameters $(2, 4; 0, 3)$, but instead of regularity we assume existence of an isometrically embedded dual split Cayley hexagon, $\mathrm{H}(2)^D$. We also give a complete classification of near hexagons of order $(2, 2)$ and use it to prove the uniqueness result for $\mathrm{H}(2)^D$.Comment: 20 pages; some revisions based on referee reports; added more references; added remarks 1.4 and 1.5; corrected typos; improved the overall expositio

On semi-finite hexagons of order (2,t)(2, t) containing a subhexagon

The research in this paper was motivated by one of the most important open problems in the theory of generalized polygons, namely the existence problem for semi-finite thick generalized polygons. We show here that no semi-finite generalized hexagon of order $(2,t)$ can have a subhexagon $H$ of order $2$. Such a subhexagon is necessarily isomorphic to the split Cayley generalized hexagon $H(2)$ or its point-line dual $H^D(2)$. In fact, the employed techniques allow us to prove a stronger result. We show that every near hexagon $\mathcal{S}$ of order $(2,t)$ which contains a generalized hexagon $H$ of order $2$ as an isometrically embedded subgeometry must be finite. Moreover, if $H \cong H^D(2)$ then $\mathcal{S}$ must also be a generalized hexagon, and consequently isomorphic to either $H^D(2)$ or the dual twisted triality hexagon $T(2,8)$.Comment: 21 pages; new corrected proofs of Lemmas 4.6 and 4.7; earlier proofs worked for generalized hexagons but not near hexagon

Geometric contextuality from the Maclachlan-Martin Kleinian groups

There are contextual sets of multiple qubits whose commutation is parametrized thanks to the coset geometry $\mathcal{G}$ of a subgroup $H$ of the two-generator free group $G=\left\langle x,y\right\rangle$. One defines geometric contextuality from the discrepancy between the commutativity of cosets on $\mathcal{G}$ and that of quantum observables.It is shown in this paper that Kleinian subgroups $K=\left\langle f,g\right\rangle$ that are non-compact, arithmetic, and generated by two elliptic isometries $f$ and $g$ (the Martin-Maclachlan classification), are appropriate contextuality filters. Standard contextual geometries such as some thin generalized polygons (starting with Mermin's $3 \times 3$ grid) belong to this frame. The Bianchi groups $PSL(2,O\_d)$, $d \in \{1,3\}$ defined over the imaginary quadratic field $O\_d=\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{-d})$ play a special role