Characterization of intersecting families of maximum size in $PSL(2,q)$

Ling Long, Rafael Plaza, Peter Sin, Qing Xiang

Published 2016-08-25Version 1

We consider the action of the $2$-dimensional projective special linear group $PSL(2,q)$ on the projective line $PG(1,q)$ over the finite field $F_q$, where $q$ is an odd prime power. A subset $S$ of $PSL(2,q)$ is said to be an intersecting family if for any $g_1,g_2 \in S$, there exists an element $x\in PG(1,q)$ such that $x^{g_1}= x^{g_2}$. It is known that the maximum size of an intersecting family in $PSL(2,q)$ is $q(q-1)/2$. We prove that all intersecting families of maximum size are cosets of point stabilizers.