  The projective line over the (non-commutative) ring of two-by-two matrices
with coefficients in GF(2) is found to fully accommodate the algebra of 15
operators - generalized Pauli matrices - characterizing two-qubit systems. The
relevant sub-configuration consists of 15 points each of which is either
simultaneously distant or simultaneously neighbor to (any) two given distant
points of the line. The operators can be identified with the points in such a
one-to-one manner that their commutation relations are exactly reproduced by
the underlying geometry of the points, with the ring geometrical notions of
neighbor/distant answering, respectively, to the operational ones of
commuting/non-commuting. This remarkable configuration can be viewed in two
principally different ways accounting, respectively, for the basic 9+6 and 10+5
factorizations of the algebra of the observables. First, as a disjoint union of
the projective line over GF(2) x GF(2) (the "Mermin" part) and two lines over
GF(4) passing through the two selected points, the latter omitted. Second, as
the generalized quadrangle of order two, with its ovoids and/or spreads
standing for (maximum) sets of five mutually non-commuting operators and/or
groups of five maximally commuting subsets of three operators each. These
findings open up rather unexpected vistas for an algebraic geometrical
modelling of finite-dimensional quantum systems and give their numerous
applications a wholly new perspective.
