A transitive self-polar double-twenty of planes

Abstract

AbstractWe demonstrate the existence, in the 5-dimensional projective space over any field J in which 1 + 1 ≠ 0 and −1 is a square, of a non-degenerate double-twenty of planes (ℋ, K) with the property that there is a group of collineations which acts transitively on ℋ ∪ K while each element of the group either maps ℋ onto itself and K onto itself or else swaps ℋ with K. If there is an involutory automorphism of J which swaps the two square roots of −1, then (ℋ, K) is also self-polar (with respect to a unitary polarity). We describe some of the geometry (in both 5-dimensional and 3-dimensional space) associated with the double-twenty (ℋ, K) and its group.