Characterising ovoidal cones by their intersection numbers

Abstract

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, unless $q=3$, in which case also a sporadic example with automorphism group $M_{11}$ exists. We then show that a set of points of $\mathrm{PG}(4,q)$ which blocks all planes and intersects solids in $q+1$, $q^2+1$ or $q^2+q+1$ points is a plane or an ovoidal cone, and determine all examples that arise when the blocking condition is omitted.

We were informed that Theorem 1.1 in the paper was already proved by Innamorati and Zuanni. Theorems 1.2 and 1.3 remain new results