On collineations and dualities of finite generalized polygons

In this paper we generalize a result of Benson to all finite generalized polygons. In particular, given a collineation theta of a finite generalized polygon S, we obtain a relation between the parameters of S and, for various natural numbers i, the number of points x which are mapped to a point at distance i from x by theta. As a special case we consider generalized 2n-gons of order (1,t) and determine, in the generic case, the exact number of absolute points of a given duality of the underlying generalized n-gon of order t

Domesticity in generalized quadrangles

An automorphism of a generalized quadrangle is called domestic if it maps no chamber, which is here an incident point-line pair, to an opposite chamber. We call it point-domestic if it maps no point to an opposite one and line-domestic if it maps no line to an opposite one. It is clear that a duality in a generalized quadrangle is always point-domestic and linedomestic. In this paper, we classify all domestic automorphisms of generalized quadrangles. Besides three exceptional cases occurring in the small quadrangles with orders (2, 2), (2, 4), and (3, 5), all domestic collineations are either point-domestic or line-domestic. Up to duality, they fall into one of three classes: Either they are central collineations, or they fix an ovoid, or they fix a large full subquadrangle. Remarkably, the three exceptional domestic collineatons in the small quadrangles mentioned above all have order 4

Some characterizations of the exceptional planar embedding of W(2)

AbstractIn this paper, we study the representation of W(2) in PG(2,4) related to a hyperoval. We provide a group-theoretic characterization and some geometric ones

The combinatorics of automorphisms and opposition in generalised polygons

We investigate the combinatorial interplay between automorphisms and opposition in (primarily finite) generalised polygons. We provide restrictions on the fixed element structures of automorphisms of a generalised polygon mapping no chamber to an opposite chamber. Furthermore, we give a complete classification of automorphisms of finite generalised polygons which map at least one point and at least one line to an opposite, but map no chamber to an opposite chamber. Finally, we show that no automorphism of a finite thick generalised polygon maps all chambers to opposite chambers, except possibly in the case of generalised quadrangles with coprime parameters

Collineations and dualities of partial geometries

AbstractIn this paper, we first prove some general results on the number of fixed points of collineations of finite partial geometries, and on the number of absolute points of dualities of partial geometries. In the second part of the paper, we establish the number of isomorphism classes of partial geometries arising from a Thas maximal arc constructed from a (finite) Suzuki–Tits ovoid in a classical projective plane. We also determine the full automorphism group of these structures, and show that every partial geometry arising from any Thas maximal arc is self-dual

Collineations of polar spaces with restricted displacements

Let J be a set of types of subspaces of a polar space. A collineation (which is a type-preserving automorphism) of a polar space is called J-domestic if it maps no flag of type J to an opposite one. In this paper we investigate certain J-domestic collineations of polar spaces. We describe in detail the fixed point structures of collineations that are i-domestic and at the same time (i + 1)-domestic, for all suitable types i. We also show that {point, line}-domestic collineations are either point-domestic or line-domestic, and then we nail down the structure of the fixed elements of point-domestic collineations and of line-domestic collineations. We also show that {i, i + 1}-domestic collineations are either i-domestic or (i + 1)-domestic (under the assumption that i + 1 is not the type of the maximal subspaces if i is even). For polar spaces of rank 3, we obtain a full classification of all chamber-domestic collineations. All our results hold in the general case (finite or infinite) and generalize the full classification of all domestic collineations of polar spaces of rank 2 performed in Temmermans et al. (to appear in Ann Comb)