Generalized pentagonal geometries -- II

Abstract

A generalized pentagonal geometry PENT($k$,$r$,$w$) is a partial linear space, where every line is incident with $k$ points, every point is incident with $r$ lines, and for each point, $x$, the set of points not collinear with $x$ forms the point set of a Steiner system $S(2,k,w)$ whose blocks are lines of the geometry. If $w = k$, the structure is called a pentagonal geometry and denoted by PENT($k$,$r$). The deficiency graph of a PENT($k$,$r$,$w$) has as its vertices the points of the geometry, and there is an edge between $x$ and $y$ precisely when $x$ and $y$ are not collinear. Our primary objective is to investigate generalized pentagonal geometries PENT($k$,$r$,$w$) where the deficiency graph has girth 4. We describe some construction methods, including a procedure that preserves deficiency graph connectedness, and we prove a number of theorems regarding the existence spectra for $k = 3$ and various values of $w$. In addition, we present some new PENT(4,$r$) (including PENT(4,25)) and PENT(5,$r$) with connected deficiency graphs. Consequently, we prove that there exist pentagonal geometries PENT($k$,$r$) with deficiency graphs of girth at least 5 for $r \ge 13$, $r$ congruent to 1 modulo 4 when $k = 4$, and for $r \ge 200000$, $r$ congruent to 0 or 1 modulo 5 when $k = 5$. We conclude with a discussion of appropriately defined identifying codes for pentagonal geometries.