Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 April 2009
Any subset π* of the set of all planes through a line in a finite projective space PG(m, q) determines a subgeometry G(π*) of the combinatorial geometry associated with PG(m, q). In this paper the geometries G(π*) of rank greater than three in which every line contains at least four points, are characterized in terms of the existence of a certain set of automorphism groups Γ(C, X); where X is a copoint and C a point not in X, and each non-trivial element of Γ(C, X) fixes X and every copoint through C and fixes C and every point in X, but no other point; and where Γ(C, X) acts transitively on the points distinct from C and not in X of some line through C. As a corollary of the main theorem we obtain a characterization of the finite projective spaces PG(m, q) with m ≥ 3 and q ≥ 3.