PORTUGALIAE MATHEMATICA © VOLUME 21 a 9 6 2 Publicagéo. subsidi por Publication subventionnée par Publication sponsored by JUNTA DE INVESTIGACKO MATEMATICA, SOCIEDADE PORTUGUESA DE MATEMATICA @ FUNDACAO CALOUSTE GULBENKIAN Edigdo de PORTUGALIAE MATHEMATICA HERMANN & C.'-, Editeurs Rua Nova da Trindede, 1, 5.°-S y | © Rue de la Sorbonne USBOA-2 (PORTUGAL) - PARIS (S-™)PORTUGALIAE MATHEMATICA Vol, 21-—Fase. 5— 1962 THE COLLINEATION GROUPS OF SOME FINITE PROJECTIVE PLANES * sy REUBEN SANDLER Institute for Defense Analyses — Princeton, N. J.—U. 8. A 1. Introduction. In [2] A. A. Auberr discusses some finite non-associative division algebras which are commutative. The original construction is due to L. E. Dicksoy. We shall concern ourselves in’this paper with the finite projective planes coordi- natized by these algebras (see [4] for a description of the coordi- natization of a finite projective plane). A complete determination will be made of the-collineation groups of the planes by studying the autotopism groups of the algebras, for the autotopism group of the algebra is isomorphic with the collineation group of the plane modulo the normal subgroup generated by the translations and the shears [3}. We also answer the question of isomorphism between the planes so constructed, i. e., how many non-isomorphic planes are given by these algebras. 2. Preliminaries. Let K bea finite field of degree » over F=GF(g), where Ww gp" for some prime , the characteristic of K. K has degree mn over GF(f) and the mapping T defined by (2) xT =x for « in K, generates the automorphism group of K over GF(p). The automorphism @) S=T”" generates the automorphism group of K over GF(). For any two elements x,y in K, we write * Received February 1962.190 REUBEN SANDLER (4) xy=«R(y)=yL(a). In what follows, we assume 6) nE2, Le, Stel. The algebras to be studied here are defined as follows: (6) Asr,,—=K+ 1K, (ryn)=1 a two-dimensional vector space over K with basis elements 1,2, Multiplication is defined by (2) (@$ib)-(e +4d)= (ac +. 3(6S") (dS) + Mad + be). If x,y are elements of Qs",;, we write (8) xe ya=aRO = yLO”. Clearly, Qs", is commutative and the matrix form of R?*? = LO? can be written 3.) On R(@) Ry 9 Reppo=Ligee= : ® ae (gress 3) ea) It is known ({1], Theorem 7) that when £=+2,Qs-,5 is a division algebra (has no divisors of zero) if and only if 3+-/ for any in K. We assume £2 from now on. We now introduce some notation. The Jeff nucleus, Ni, is defined as the set of all ain 9% such that (10) a-(w-y)=(a-x)-y, all x,y in W. The right and middle nuclei, N, and N,,, are analogously defi- ned. The center is the set of all = in 9 in the intersection of all three nuclei and such that (11) gex—x-s, forall x in W. Since {& is commutative, its center will be the intersection of all three nuclei. The following lemma will be of some use; Louua. The left nucleus of % is equal to the right nucleus, and consists of all elements of the form a+2+0 where a isin F. The middle nucleus consists of all x-+-1+0 where x isin K. Proor. (x +2y)-(#+20)]-(@ +24) =(eu + (ya) Sd) a + (put av) Sr (OS)3+i[(yutxvat (vu + (yv)S'5) 6)