Abstract
One of the most fundamental results in the theory of regular near polygons is the result that every regular near 2d-gon, \(d \ge 3\), whose parameters \(s,t,t_i\), \(i \in \{ 0,1,\ldots ,d \}\), satisfy \(s,t_2 \ge 2\) and \(t_3=t_2^2+t_2\) is a dual polar space. The proof of that theorem heavily relies on Tits’ theory of buildings, in particular on Tits’ strong results on covering of chamber systems. In this paper, we give an alternative proof which only employs geometrical and algebraic combinatorial arguments.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Biggs, N.: Intersection matrices for linear graphs, pp. 15–23 in Combinatorial Mathematics and its Applications (Proc. Conf., Oxford, 1969). Academic Press, London (1971)
Biggs, N.: Finite groups of automorphisms. London Mathematical Society Lecture Note Series 6. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1971)
Brouwer, A.E., Cohen, A.M.: Local recognition of Tits geometries of classical type. Geom. Dedicata 20, 181–199 (1986)
Brouwer, A.E., Cohen, A.M., Neumaier, A.: Distance-regular graphs. Ergebnisse der Mathematik und ihrer Grenzgebiete (3) 18. Springer, New York (1989)
Brouwer, A.E., Wilbrink, H.A.: The structure of near polygons with quads. Geom. Dedicata 14, 145–176 (1983)
Cameron, P.J.: Dual polar spaces. Geom. Dedicata 12, 75–85 (1982)
De Bruyn, B.: Near Polygons. Birkhäuser, Basel (2006)
De Bruyn, B.: An Introduction to Incidence Geometry. Birkhäuser, Basel (2016)
Hiraki, A., Koolen, J.: A generalization of an inequality of Brouwer–Wilbrink. J. Combin. Theory Ser. A 109, 181–188 (2005)
Neumaier, A.: Krein conditions and near polygons. J. Combin. Theory Ser. A 54, 201–209 (1990)
Payne, S.E., Thas, J.A.: Finite Generalized Quadrangles, 2nd edn. EMS Series of Lectures in Mathematics. European Mathematical Society, (2009)
Shad, S., Shult, E.: The near \(n\)-gon geometries. Unpublished manuscript
Shult, E., Yanushka, A.: Near \(n\)-gons and line systems. Geom. Dedicata 9, 1–72 (1980)
Tits, J.: Buildings of spherical type and finite BN-pairs. Lecture Notes in Mathematics, vol. 386. Springer, Berlin (1974)
Tits, J.: A local approach to buildings. In: The Geometric Vein. Springer, Berlin, pp. 519–547 (1981)
Acknowledgements
The author wants to express his gratitude to Hiroshi Suzuki for communicating his desire to him to have an alternative proof of Theorem 1.2 that does not rely on Tits’ strong results on covering of chamber systems. The author also wants to thank him for his comments on an earlier draft.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
De Bruyn, B. On Near Polygons All Whose Hexes are Dual Polar Spaces. Graphs and Combinatorics 36, 1015–1041 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00373-020-02166-9
Received:
Revised:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00373-020-02166-9