The Valuations of the Near Octagon ${\Bbb I}_4$

Abstract

The maximal and next-to-maximal subspaces of a nonsingular parabolic quadric $Q(2n,2)$, $n \geq 2$, which are not contained in a given hyperbolic quadric $Q^+(2n-1,2) \subset Q(2n,2)$ define a sub near polygon ${\Bbb I}_n$ of the dual polar space $DQ(2n,2)$. It is known that every valuation of $DQ(2n,2)$ induces a valuation of ${\Bbb I}_n$. In this paper, we classify all valuations of the near octagon ${\Bbb I}_4$ and show that they are all induced by a valuation of $DQ(8,2)$. We use this classification to show that there exists up to isomorphism a unique isometric full embedding of ${\Bbb I}_n$ into each of the dual polar spaces $DQ(2n,2)$ and $DH(2n-1,4)$.