<Chapter Label="polaritiesofps">
<Heading>Polarities of Projective Spaces</Heading>
A <E>polarity</E> of a incidence structure is
an incidence reversing, bijective, and involutory map on the elements of the
incidence structure. It is well known that every polarity of a projective space
is just an involutory correlation of the projective space. The construction of
correlations of a projective space is described in Chapter <Ref Chap="projgroup"/>.
In this chapter we describe methods and operations dealing with the construction
and use of polarities of projective spaces in <Package>FinInG</Package>.
<Section>
<Heading>Creating polarities of projective spaces</Heading>
Since polarities of a projective space necessarily have an involutory field
automorphism as companion automorphism and the standard duality of the projective
space as the companion projective space isomorphism, a polarity of a projective
space is determined completely by a suitable matrix <M>A</M>. Every polarity of
a projective space &pgnq; is listed in the following table, including
the conditions on the matrix <M>A</M>.
<Table Align="|l|l|l|">
<Caption>polarities of a projective space</Caption>
<HorLine/>
<Row><Item> </Item><Item><M>q</M> odd</Item><Item><M>q</M> even</Item></Row>
<HorLine/>
<Row><Item>hermitian</Item><Item> <!--<Alt Not="HTML"><M>A^{\theta}=A^T</M></Alt><Alt Only="HTML">A<sup>θ </sup> = A<sup>T </sup></Alt>-->
<Alt Not="HTML"><M>A^{\theta}=A^T</M></Alt>
<Alt Only="HTML MathJax"><M>A^{\theta}=A^T</M></Alt>
<Alt Only="HTML noMathJax">A<sup>952; </sup> = A<sup>T </sup></Alt>
</Item>
<Item>
<Alt Not="HTML"><M>A^{\theta}=A^T</M></Alt>
<Alt Only="HTML MathJax"><M>A^{\theta}=A^T</M></Alt>
<Alt Only="HTML noMathJax">A<sup>952; </sup> = A<sup>T </sup></Alt>
</Item></Row>
<Row><Item>symplectic</Item><Item>
<Alt Not="HTML"><M>A^T=-A</M></Alt>
<Alt Only="HTML MathJax"><M>A^T=-A</M></Alt>
<Alt Only="HTML noMathJax">A<sup>T </sup> = - A</Alt>
</Item>
<Item>
<Alt Not="HTML"><M>A^T=A</M>, all <M>a_{ii}=0</M></Alt>
<Alt Only="HTML MathJax"><M>A^T=A</M>, all <M>a_{ii}=0</M></Alt>
<Alt Only="HTML noMathJax">A<sup>T </sup> = A, all a<sub>ii</sub>=0</Alt>
</Item></Row>
<Row><Item>orthogonal</Item><Item>
<Alt Not="HTML"><M>A^T=A</M></Alt>
<Alt Only="HTML MathJax"><M>A^T=A</M></Alt>
<Alt Only="HTML noMathJax">A<sup>T </sup> = A</Alt>
</Item><Item></Item></Row>
<Row><Item>pseudo</Item><Item> </Item>
<Item>
<Alt Not="HTML"><M>A^T=A</M>, not all <M>a_{ii}=0</M></Alt>
<Alt Only="HTML MathJax"><M>A^T=A</M>, not all <M>a_{ii}=0</M></Alt>
<Alt Only="HTML noMathJax">A<sup>T </sup> = A, not all a<sub>ii</sub>=0</Alt>
</Item></Row>
<HorLine/>
</Table>
A hermitian polarity of the projective space &pgnq; exists if and only
if the field &gfq; admits an involutory field automorphism.<P/>
It is well known that there is a correspondence between polarities of projective
spaces and non-degenerate sesquilinear forms on the underlying vector space.
Consider a sesquilinear form <M>f</M> on the vector space <M>V(n+1,q)</M>. Then
<M>f</M> induces a map on the elements of &pgnq; as follows: every element with underlying subspace <M>\alpha</M> is mapped to the element with underlying subspace <Alt Not="HTML"><M>\alpha^{\perp}</M></Alt>
<Alt Only="HTML MathJax"><M>\alpha^\perp</M></Alt><Alt Only="HTML noMathJax">945;<sup>8869;</sup></Alt>,
i.e. the subspace of <M>V(n+1,q)</M> orthogonal to <M>\alpha</M> with
respect to the form <M>f</M>. It is clear that
this induced map is a polarity of &pgnq;. Also the converse is true,
with any polarity of &pgnq; corresponds a sesquilinear form on
<M>V(n+1,q)</M>. The above classification of polarities of &pgnq; follows
from the classification of sesquilinear forms on <M>V(n+1,q)</M>. For more
information, we refer to <Cite Key="HirschfeldThas"/> and <Cite
Key="KleidmanLiebeck"/>. We mention that the implementation of the action of
correlations on projective points (see <Ref Sect="projgroup_actions"/>)
guarantees that a sesquilinear form with matrix <M>M</M> and field
automorphism <M>\theta</M> corresponds to a polarity with matrix <M>M</M>
and field automorphism <M>\theta</M> and vice versa.<P/>
In <Package>FinInG</Package>, polarities of projective spaces are always
objects in the category <C>IsPolarityOfProjectiveSpace</C>, which is a
subcategory of the category <C>IsProjGrpElWithFrobWithPSIsom</C>.
<ManSection>
<Oper Name="PolarityOfProjectiveSpace" Arg="mat, f"/>
<Returns>a polarity of a projective space</Returns>
<Description>The underlying correlation of
the projective space is constructed using matrix <A>mat</A>, field <A>f</A>, the identity
mapping as field automorphism and the standard duality of the projective space.
It is checked whether the matrix <A>mat</A> satisfies the necessary conditions to
induce a polarity.
<Example>
<#Include SYSTEM "../examples/include/polarities_construct1.include">
</Example>
</Description>
</ManSection>
<ManSection>
<Oper Name="PolarityOfProjectiveSpace" Arg="mat, frob, f"/>
<Oper Name="HermitianPolarityOfProjectiveSpace" Arg="mat, f"/>
<Returns>a polarity of a projective space</Returns>
<Description>The underlying correlation of
the projective space is constructed using matrix <A>mat</A>, field
automorphism <A>frob</A>, <A>f</A> and the standard duality of the projective space. It is
checked whether the <A>mat</A> satisfies the necessary conditions to
induce a polarity, and whether <A>frob</A> is a non-trivial involutory field
automorphism. The second operation only needs the arguments <A>mat</A> and
<A>f</A> to construct a hermitian polarity of a projective space, provided the
field <A>f</A> allows an involutory field automorphism and <A>mat</A> satisfies
the necessary conditions. The latter is checked by constructing the underlying
hermitian form.
<Example>
<#Include SYSTEM "../examples/include/polarities_construct2.include">
</Example>
</Description>
</ManSection>
<ManSection>
<Oper Name="PolarityOfProjectiveSpace" Arg="form"/>
<Returns>a polarity of a projective space</Returns>
<Description>The polarity of the projective space is constructed using a
non-degenerate sesquilinear form <A>form</A>. It is checked whether the given
form is non-degenerate.
<Example>
<#Include SYSTEM "../examples/include/polarities_fromform.include">
</Example>
</Description>
</ManSection>
<ManSection>
<Oper Name="PolarityOfProjectiveSpace" Arg="ps"/>
<Returns>a polarity of a projective space</Returns>
<Description>The polarity of the projective space is constructed using the
non-degenerate sesquilinear form that defines
the polar space <A>ps</A>. When <A>ps</A> is a parabolic
quadric in even characteristic, no polarity of the ambient
projective space can be associated to <A>ps</A>, and an
error message is returned.
<Example>
<#Include SYSTEM "../examples/include/polarities_frompolarspace.include">
</Example>
</Description>
</ManSection>
</Section>
<Section>
<Heading>Operations, attributes and properties for polarities of projective spaces</Heading>
<ManSection>
<Attr Name="SesquilinearForm" Arg="phi"/>
<Returns>a sesquilinear form</Returns>
<Description>The sesquilinear form corresponding to the given polarity <A>phi</A> is returned.
<Example>
<#Include SYSTEM "../examples/include/polarities_toform.include">
</Example>
</Description>
</ManSection>
<ManSection>
<Attr Name="BaseField" Arg="phi"/>
<Returns>a field</Returns>
<Description>The base field over which the polarity <A>phi</A> was constructed.
<Example>
<#Include SYSTEM "../examples/include/polarities_basefield.include">
</Example>
</Description>
</ManSection>
<ManSection>
<Attr Name="GramMatrix" Arg="phi"/>
<Returns>a matrix</Returns>
<Description>The Gram matrix of the polarity <A>phi</A>.
<Example>
<#Include SYSTEM "../examples/include/polarities_grammatrix.include">
</Example>
</Description>
</ManSection>
<ManSection>
<Attr Name="CompanionAutomorphism" Arg="phi"/>
<Returns>a field automorphism</Returns>
<Description>The involutory field automorphism accompanying the polarity <A>phi</A>.
<Example>
<#Include SYSTEM "../examples/include/polarities_automorphism.include">
</Example>
</Description>
</ManSection>
<ManSection>
<Prop Name="IsHermitianPolarityOfProjectiveSpace" Arg="phi"/>
<Returns>true or false</Returns>
<Description>The polarity <A>phi</A> is a hermitian polarity of a projective space if
and only if the underlying matrix is hermitian.
<Example>
<#Include SYSTEM "../examples/include/polarities_ishermitian.include">
</Example>
</Description>
</ManSection>
<ManSection>
<Prop Name="IsSymplecticPolarityOfProjectiveSpace" Arg="phi"/>
<Returns>true or false</Returns>
<Description>The polarity <A>phi</A> is a symplectic polarity of a projective space if
and only if the underlying matrix is symplectic.
<Example>
<#Include SYSTEM "../examples/include/polarities_issymplectic.include">
</Example>
</Description>
</ManSection>
<ManSection>
<Prop Name="IsOrthogonalPolarityOfProjectiveSpace" Arg="phi"/>
<Returns>true or false</Returns>
<Description>The polarity <A>phi</A> is an orthogonal polarity of a projective space if
and only if the underlying matrix is symmetric and the characteristic of the
field is odd.
<Example>
<#Include SYSTEM "../examples/include/polarities_isorthogonal.include">
</Example>
</Description>
</ManSection>
<ManSection>
<Prop Name="IsPseudoPolarityOfProjectiveSpace" Arg="phi"/>
<Returns>true or false</Returns>
<Description>The polarity <A>phi</A> is a pseudo-polarity of a projective space if
and only if the underlying matrix is symmetric, not all elements on the main
diagonal are zero and the characteristic of the field is even.
<Example>
<#Include SYSTEM "../examples/include/polarities_ispseudo.include">
</Example>
</Description>
</ManSection>
</Section>
<Section Label="polarties_absolute">
<Heading>Polarities, absolute points, totally isotropic elements and finite classical polar
spaces</Heading>
We already mentioned the equivalence between polarities of &pgnq; and
sesquilinear forms on <M>V(n+1,q)</M>, hence there is a relation between
polarities of &pgnq; and polar spaces induced by sesquilinear forms. The
following concepts express these relations geometrically.<P/>
Suppose that <M>\phi</M> is a
polarity of &pgnq; and that <M>\alpha</M> is an element of &pgnq;. We call
<M>\alpha</M> a <E>totally isotropic element</E> or an <E>absolute element</E>
if and only if <M>\alpha</M> is incident with <Alt Not="HTML"><M>\alpha^\phi</M></Alt>
<Alt Only="HTML MathJax"><M>\alpha^\phi</M></Alt><Alt Only="HTML noMathJax">945;<sup>966;</sup></Alt>.
An absolute element that is a
point is also called an <E>absolute point</E> or an <E>isotropic point</E>. It
is clear that an element of &pgnq; is absolute if and only if the
underlying vector space is totally isotropic with respect to the sesquilinear
form equivalent to <M>\phi</M>. Hence the absolute elements induce a
<E>finite classical polar space</E>, the same that is induced by the
equivalent sesquilinear form. When <M>\phi</M> is a pseudo-polarity,
the set of absolute elements are the elements of a hyperplane of &pgnq;.
<P/>
We restrict our introduction to finite classical polar spaces in this
section to the following examples. Many aspects of these geometries
are extensively described in Chapter <Ref Chap="classicalpolarspaces"/>.
<ManSection>
<Oper Name="GeometryOfAbsolutePoints" Arg="f"/>
<Returns>a polar space or a hyperplane</Returns>
<Description>When <A>f</A> is not a pseudo-polarity, this operation returns the
polar space induced by <A>f</A>. When <A>f</A> is a pseudo-polarity, this
operation returns the hyperplane containing all absolute elements.
<Example>
<#Include SYSTEM "../examples/include/polarities_geometryofabsolutepoints.include">
</Example>
</Description>
</ManSection>
<ManSection>
<Oper Name="AbsolutePoints" Arg="f"/>
<Returns>a set of points</Returns>
<Description>This operation returns all points that are absolute with respect
to <A>f</A>.
<Example>
<#Include SYSTEM "../examples/include/polarities_absolutepoints.include">
</Example>
</Description>
</ManSection>
<ManSection>
<Oper Name="PolarSpace" Arg="f"/>
<Returns>a polar space </Returns>
<Description>When <A>f</A> is not a pseudo-polarity, this operation returns the
polar space induced by <A>f</A>.
<Example>
<#Include SYSTEM "../examples/include/polarities_polarspace.include">
</Example>
</Description>
</ManSection>
</Section>
<Section>
<Heading>Commuting polarities</Heading>
<Package>FinInG</Package> constructs polarities of projective
spaces as correlations. This allows polarities to be multiplied
easily, resulting in a collineation. The resulting collineation
is constructed in the correlation group but can be mapped onto its
unique representative in the collineation group. We provide an
example with two commuting polarities.
<Example>
<#Include SYSTEM "../examples/include/polarities_commuting.include">
</Example>
</Section>
</Chapter>
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