On prime order automorphisms of generalized quadrangles

TL;DR

This paper investigates prime order automorphisms of generalized quadrangles, establishing inequalities that restrict their existence and showing that certain orders imply intransitive automorphism groups, indicating inherent asymmetry.

Contribution

It provides new inequalities and conditions that limit the existence of automorphisms of prime order in generalized quadrangles, advancing understanding of their symmetry properties.

Findings

Derived inequalities for automorphisms of order s+1 and t+1.

Proved non-existence of automorphisms of certain prime orders under specific conditions.

Showed automorphism groups of some potential quadrangles must be intransitive.

Abstract

In this paper, we study prime order automorphisms of generalized quadrangles. We show that, if $\mathcal{Q}$ is a thick generalized quadrangle of order $(s,t)$, where $s > t$ and $s+1$ is prime, and $\mathcal{Q}$ has an automorphism of order $s+1$, then \[ s \left\lceil \left\lceil \frac{t^2}{s+1}\right\rceil\left(\frac{s+1}{t} \right) \right\rceil \le t(s+t),\] with a similar inequality holding in the dual case when $t > s$, $t+1$ is prime, and $\mathcal{Q}$ is a thick generalized quadrangle of order $(s,t)$ with an automorphism of order $t+1$. In particular, if $s+1$ is prime and if there exists a natural number $n$ such that \[ \frac{t^2}{n+1} + t \le s + 1 < \frac{t^2}{n},\] then a thick generalized quadrangle $\mathcal{Q}$ cannot have an automorphism of order $s+1$, and hence the automorphism group of $\mathcal{Q}$ cannot be transitive on points. These results apply to numerous potential orders for which it is still unknown whether or not generalized quadrangles exist, showing that any examples would necessarily be somewhat asymmetric. Finally, we are able to use the theory we have built up about prime order automorphisms of generalized quadrangles to show that the automorphism group of a potential generalized quadrangle of order $(4,12)$ must necessarily be intransitive on both points and lines.