Related papers: Unitals with many Baer secants through a fixed poi…

A unital in PG(2,q^2) is a set U of q^3+1 points such that each line meets U in 1 or q+1 points. The well known example is the classical unital consisting of all absolute points of a non-degenerate unitary polarity of PG(2,q^2). Unitals…

Given an Orthogonal-Buekenhout-Metz unital $U_{\alpha,\beta}$, embedded in $PG(2,q^2)$, and a point $P\notin U_{\alpha,\beta}$, we study the set of feet, $\tau_{P}(U_{\alpha,\beta})$, of $P$ in $U_{\alpha,\beta}$. We characterize…

In this paper, we establish the existence of O'Nan configurations in all nonclassical ovoidal Buekenhout-Metz unitals in $\text{PG}(2,q^2)$.

In this article we look at the geometric structure of the feet of an orthogonal Buekenhout-Metz unital U in PG(2,q^2). We show that the feet of each point form a set of type (0,1,2,4). Further, we discuss the structure of any 4-secants, and…

This paper addresses a number of problems concerning Buekenhout-Tits unitals in $PG(2,q^2)$, where $q = 2^{e+1}$ and $e \geq 1$. We show that all Buekenhout-Tits unitals are $PGL$-equivalent (addressing an open problem in [S. Barwick and G.…

Let $\mathcal{P}$ be a set of $n$ points in the Euclidean plane. We prove that, for any $\epsilon > 0$, either a single line or circle contains $n/2$ points of $\mathcal{P}$, or the number of distinct perpendicular bisectors determined by…

An O'Nan configuration in a unital is a set of four lines forming a quadrilateral, where the six intersections of pairs of lines are points of the unital. In 2019 Feng and Li elegantly construct O'Nan configurations in Buekenhout-Metz…

Let $\cU$ be a unital embedded in the Desarguesian projective plane $\PG(2,q^2)$. Write $M$ for the subgroup of $\PGL(3,q^2)$ which preserves $\cU$. We show that $\cU$ is classical if and only if $\cU$ has two distinct points $P,Q$ for…

Let $K$ be a set of $q^2+2q+1$ points in $PG(4,q)$. We show that if every 3-space meets $K$ in either one, two or three lines, a line and a non-degenerate conic, or a twisted cubic, then $K$ is a ruled cubic surface. Moreover, $K$…

We show that the size of the intersection of a Hermitian variety in $\PG(n,q^2)$, and any set satisfying an $r$-dimensional-subspace intersection property, is congruent to 1 modulo a power of $p$. In particular, in the case where $n=2$, if…

We prove that, for $q$ odd, a set of $q+2$ points in the projective plane over the field with $q$ elements has at least $2q-c$ odd secants, where $c$ is a constant and an odd secant is a line incident with an odd number of points of the…

An O'Nan configuration in a unital is a set of four lines forming a quadrilateral, where the six intersections of pairs of lines are points of the unital. In 2019 Feng and Li elegantly construct O'Nan configurations in orthogonal and Tits…

We present a new construction of non-classical unitals from a classical unital $U$ in $PG(2,q^2)$. The resulting non-classical unitals are B-M unitals. The idea is to find a non-standard model $\Pi$ of $PG(2,q^2)$ with the following three…

Let $P$ and $Q$ be two orthogonal projections on a separable Hilbert space, $\calH$. Wang, Du and Dou proved that there exists a unitary, $U$, with $UPU^{-1} =Q, \quad UQU^{-1} = P$ if and only if $\dim(\ker P \cap \ker(1-Q)) = \dim(\ker Q…

We give a combinatorial characterization of the family of lines of P G(3, q) which meet a hyperbolic quadric in two points (the so called secant lines) using their intersection properties with the points and planes of PG(3,q).

In this paper, we characterise ovoidal cones by their intersection numbers. We first show that a set of points of $\mathrm{PG}(4,q)$ which intersects planes in $1$, $q+1$ or $2q+1$ points is either an ovoidal cone or a parabolic quadric,…

Innamorati and Zuanni have provided a combinatorial characterization of Baer and unital cones in PG(3,q). The current paper generalizes these results to arbitrary dimension. Furthermore, these results are extended to hyperoval and maximal…

Given a set of points $P \subset \mathbb F_q^2$ such that $|P|\geq q^{3/2}$ it is established that $|P|$ determines $\Omega(q^2)$ distinct perpendicular bisectors. It is also proven that, if $|P| \geq q^{4/3}$, then for a positive…

Let $U_\theta$ be a unital defined in a shift plane of odd order $q^2$, which are constructed recently by the authors. In particular, when the shift plane is desarguesian, $U_\theta$ is a special Buekenhout-Metz unital formed by a union of…

A spread of a Hermitian unital in PG(2,q^2) is a set of q^2+q+1 pairwise disjoint blocks that partition the points of the unital. In this paper, we discuss the results of an exhaustive computer search for spreads of Hermitian unitals of…