BRUCK NETS AND PARTIAL SHERK PLANES

In Bachmann [Aufbau der Geometrie aus dem Spiegelungsbegriff, Die Grundlehren der mathematischen Wissenschaften, Bd. XCVI (Springer, Berlin–Göttingen–Heidelberg, 1959)], it was shown that a finite metric plane is a Desarguesian affine plane of odd order equipped with a perpendicularity relation on lines and that the converse is also true. Sherk [‘Finite incidence structures with orthogonality’, Canad. J. Math.19 (1967), 1078–1083] generalised this result to characterise the finite affine planes of odd order by removing the ‘three reflections axioms’ from a metric plane. We show that one can obtain a larger class of natural finite geometries, the so-called Bruck nets of even degree, by weakening Sherk’s axioms to allow noncollinear points.

Blocking and Double Blocking Sets in Finite Planes

In this paper, by using properties of Baer subplanes, we describe the construction of a minimal blocking set in the Hall plane of order $q^2$ of size $q^2+2q+2$ admitting $1-$, $2-$, $3-$, $4-$, $(q+1)-$ and $(q+2)-$secants. As a corollary, we obtain the existence of a minimal blocking set of a non-Desarguesian affine plane of order $q^2$ of size at most $4q^2/3+5q/3$, which is considerably smaller than $2q^2-1$, the Jamison bound for the size of a minimal blocking set in an affine Desarguesian plane of order $q^2$.We also consider particular André planes of order $q$, where $q$ is a power of the prime $p$, and give a construction of a small minimal blocking set which admits a secant line not meeting the blocking set in $1$ mod $p$ points. Furthermore, we elaborate on the connection of this problem with the study of value sets of certain polynomials and with the construction of small double blocking sets in Desarguesian projective planes; in both topics we provide some new results.

On the Non-Existence of Certain Hyperovals in Dual André Planes of Order $2^{2h}$

No regular hyperoval of the Desarguesian affine plane $AG(2,2^{2h})$, with $h>1$, is inherited by a dual André plane of order $2^{2h}$ and dimension $2$ over its kernel.

Ordered Desarguesian Affine Hjelmslev Planes

A Desarguesian affine Hjelmslev plane (D.A.H. plane) may be coordinatized by an affine Hjelmslev ring (A.H. ring), which is a local ring whose radical is equal to the set of two-sided zero divisors and whose principal right ideals are totally ordered (cf. [3]). In his paper on ordered geometries [4], P. Scherk discussed the equivalence of an ordering of a Desarguesian affine plane with an ordering of its coordinatizing division ring. We shall define an ordered D.A.H. plane and follow Scherk's methods to extend his results to D.A.H. planes and their A.H. rings i.e., we shall show that a D.A.H. plane is ordered if and only if its A.H. ring is ordered. We shall also give an example of an ordered A.H. ring. Finally, we shall discuss some infinitesimal aspects of the radical of an ordered A.H. ring.

The Flag-Transitive Collineation Groups of the Finite Desarguesian Affine Planes

Let π be the Desarguesian affine plane of order n = pr, for p a prime and r a positive integer. A collineation group G of π is defined to be flag-transitive on π if G is transitive on the set of incident point-line pairs, or flags, of π. Further, G is doubly transitive on π if G is doubly transitive on the points of π. Clearly, G is flag transitive if G is doubly transitive on π.The purpose of the following study is the explicit determination of the flagtransitive and the doubly transitive collineation groups of π (I am indebted to D. G. Higman for suggesting this problem). The results can be summarized in Theorems 1′ and 2′ below (a complete description of the results is contained in Sections 12-15).

Cyclic Affine Planes

Let Π be an affine plane which admits a collineation τ such that the cyclic group generated by τ leaves one point (say X) fixed, and is transitive on the set of all other points of Π. Such “cyclic affine planes” have been previously studied, especially in India, and the principal result relevant to the present discussion is the following theorem of Bose [2]: every finite Desarguesian affine plane is cyclic. The converse seems quite likely true, but no proof exists. In what follows, we shall prove several properties of cyclic affine planes which will imply that for an infinite number of values of n there is no such plane with n points on a line.