An extension of Cameron's result on block schematic Steiner systems

It is shown that if a Steiner system S(t, k, v) (t ? 3) is block schematic, then v is bounded above by a function of k.     

A construction for large sets of disjoint Kirkman triple systems

A Steiner system S(t, k, v) is called i-resolvable, 0 < i < t, if its block set can be partitioned into S(i, k, v). In this paper, a 2-resolvable S(3, 4, v) is used to construct a large set of disjoint Kirkman triple systems of order 3v − 3 (briefly LKTS) and some new orders for LKTS are then obtained. Research supported by Tianyuan Mathematics Foundation of NSFC Grant 10526032 and Natural Science Foundation of Universities of Jiangsu Province Grant 05KJB110111.     

A Note on Partial Parallel Classes in Steiner Systems

A partial parallel class of blocks of a Steiner system S(t,k,v) is a collection of pairwise disjoint blocks. The purpose of this note is to show that any S(k,k+1,v) Steiner system, with v?k⁴+3k³+k²+1, has a partial parallel class containing at least (v?k+1)/(k+2) blocks.     

Partitioning the planes of AG2m(2) into 2-designs

A t-design S_λ(t, k, v) is an arrangement of v elements in blocks of k elements each such that every t element subset is contained in exactly λ blocks. A t-design S_λ(t, k, v) is called t′-resolvable if the blocks can be partitioned into families such that each family is the block system of a S_λ(t′, k, v). It is shown that the S₁(3, 4, 2^2m) design of planes on an even dimensional affine space over the field of two elements is 2-resolvable. Each S₁(2, 4, 2^2m) given by the resolution is itself 1-resolvable. As a corollary it is shown that every odd dimensional projective space over the field of two elements admits a 1-packing of 1-spreads, i.e. a partition of its lines into families of mutually disjoint lines whose union covers the space. This 1-packing may be generated from any one of its spreads by repeated application of a fixed collineation.     

Further results on the existence of nested orthogonal arrays

Nested orthogonal arrays provide an option for designing an experimental setup consisting of two experiments, the expensive one of higher accuracy being nested in a larger and relatively less expensive one of lower accuracy. We denote by OA_(λ, μ)(t, k, (v, w)) (or OA(t, k, (v, w)) if λ = μ = 1) a (symmetric) orthogonal array OA _λ (t, k, v) with a nested OA _μ (t, k, w) (as a subarray). It is proved in this article that an OA(t, t + 1,(v, w)) exists if and only if v ≥ 2w for any positive integers v, w and any strength t ≥ 2. Some constructions of OA_(λ, μ)(t, k, (v, w))′s with λ ≠ μ and k ? t > 1 are also presented.     

Eccentric sequences and eccentric sets in graphs

By a graph we mean a finite undirected connected graph of order p, p ? 2, with no loops or multiple edges. A finite non-decreasing sequence S: s₁, s₂, …, s_p, p ? 2, of positive integers is an eccentric sequence if there exists a graph G with vertex set V(G) = {v₁, v₂, …, v_p} such that for each i, 1 ? i ? p, s, is the eccentricity of v₁. A set S is an eccentric set if there exists a graph G such that the eccentricity ρ(v₁) is in S for every v₁ ? V(G), and every element of S is the eccentricity of some vertex in G. In this note we characterize eccentric sets, and we find the minimum order among all graphs whose eccentric set is a given set, to obtain a new necessary condition for a sequence to be eccentric. We also present some properties of graphs having preassigned eccentric sequences.     

Intersections among Steiner systems

A Steiner system S(l, m, n) is a system of subsets of size m (called blocks) from an n-set S, such that each d-subset from S is contained in precisely one block. Two Steiner systems have intersection k if they share exactly k blocks. The possible intersections among S(5, 6, 12)'s, among S(4, 5, 11)'s, among S(3, 4, 10)'s, and among S(2, 3, 9)'s are determined, together with associated orbits under the action of the automorphism group of an initial Steiner system. The following are results: (i) the maximal number of mutually disjoint S(5, 6, 12)'s is two and any two such pairs are isomorphic; (ii) the maximal number of mutually disjoint S(4, 5, 11)'s is two and any two such pairs are isomorphic; (iii) the maximal number of mutually disjoint S(3, 4, 10)'s is five and any two such sets of five are isomorphic; (iv) a result due to Bays in 1917 that there are exactly two non-isomorphic ways to partition all 3-subsets of a 9-set into seven mutually disjoint S(2, 3, 9)'s.     

Steiner intervals and Steiner geodetic numbers in distance-hereditary graphs

A Steiner tree for a set S of vertices in a connected graph G is a connected subgraph of G with a smallest number of edges that contains S. The Steiner interval I(S) of S is the union of all the vertices of G that belong to some Steiner tree for S. If S={u,v}, then I(S)=I[u,v] is called the interval between u and v and consists of all vertices that lie on some shortest u-v path in G. The smallest cardinality of a set S of vertices such that ?_u,v∈SI[u,v]=V(G) is called the geodetic number and is denoted by g(G). The smallest cardinality of a set S of vertices of G such that I(S)=V(G) is called the Steiner geodetic number of G and is denoted by sg(G). We show that for distance-hereditary graphs g(G)?sg(G) but that g(G)/sg(G) can be arbitrarily large if G is not distance hereditary. An efficient algorithm for finding the Steiner interval for a set of vertices in a distance-hereditary graph is described and it is shown how contour vertices can be used in developing an efficient algorithm for finding the Steiner geodetic number of a distance-hereditary graph.     

On making two Steiner triple systems disjoint

We prove that if (S₁, β₁) and (S₂, β₂) are two Steiner triple systems of order v and if S is a set of v points, then there exist two disjoint Steiner triple systems (S, β₁′) and (S, β₂′) with (S₁, β₁) ? (S, β₁′) and (S₂, β₂) ? (S, β₂′).     

Distance and fractional isomorphism in Steiner triple systems

In [8], Quattrochi and Rinaldi introduced the idea ofn ⁻¹-isomorphism between Steiner systems. In this paper we study this concept in the context of Steiner triple systems. The main result is that for any positive integerN, there existsv ₀(N) such that for all admissiblev≥v ₀(N) and for each STS(v) (sayS), there exists an STS(v) (sayS′) such that for somen>N, S is strictlyn ⁻¹-isomorphic toS′. We also prove that for all admissiblev≥13, there exist two STS(v)s which are strictly 2⁻¹-isomorphic. Define the distance between two Steiner triple systemsS andS′ of the same order to be the minimum volume of a tradeT which transformsS into a system isomorphic toS′. We determine the distance between any two Steiner triple systems of order 15 and, further, give a complete classification of strictly 2⁻¹-isomorphic and 3⁻¹-isomorphic pairs of STS(15)s.     

Geodetic and Steiner geodetic sets in 3-Steiner distance hereditary graphs

Let G be a connected graph and S⊆V(G). Then the Steiner distance of S, denoted by d_G(S), is the smallest number of edges in a connected subgraph of G containing S. Such a subgraph is necessarily a tree called a Steiner tree for S. The Steiner interval for a set S of vertices in a graph, denoted by I(S) is the union of all vertices that belong to some Steiner tree for S. If S={u,v}, then I(S) is the interval I[u,v] between u and v. A connected graph G is 3-Steiner distance hereditary (3-SDH) if, for every connected induced subgraph H of order at least 3 and every set S of three vertices of H, d_H(S)=d_G(S). The eccentricity of a vertex v in a connected graph G is defined as e(v)=max{d(v,x)|x∈V(G)}. A vertex v in a graph G is a contour vertex if for every vertex u adjacent with v, e(u)?e(v). The closure of a set S of vertices, denoted by I[S], is defined to be the union of intervals between pairs of vertices of S taken over all pairs of vertices in S. A set of vertices of a graph G is a geodetic set if its closure is the vertex set of G. The smallest cardinality of a geodetic set of G is called the geodetic number of G and is denoted by g(G). A set S of vertices of a connected graph G is a Steiner geodetic set for G if I(S)=V(G). The smallest cardinality of a Steiner geodetic set of G is called the Steiner geodetic number of G and is denoted by sg(G). We show that the contour vertices of 3-SDH and HHD-free graphs are geodetic sets. For 3-SDH graphs we also show that g(G)?sg(G). An efficient algorithm for finding Steiner intervals in 3-SDH graphs is developed.     

Generalized Steiner systems GS4 (2, 4, v,g) for g = 2, 3, 6

Generalized Steiner systems GS_d(t, k, v, g) were first introduced by Etzion and used to construct optimal constant‐weight codes over an alphabet of size g + 1 with minimum Hamming distance d, in which each codeword has length v and weight k. Much work has been done for the existence of generalized Steiner triple systems GS(2, 3, v, g). However, for block size four there is not much known on GS_d(2, 4, v, g). In this paper, the necessary conditions for the existence of a GS_d(t, k, v, g) are given, which answers an open problem of Etzion. Some singular indirect product constructions for GS_d(2, k, v, g) are also presented. By using both recursive and direct constructions, it is proved that the necessary conditions for the existence of a GS₄(2, 4, v, g) are also sufficient for g = 2, 3, 6. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Combin Designs 9: 401–423, 2001     

Competitively Tight Graphs

The competition graph of a digraph D is a (simple undirected) graph which has the same vertex set as D and has an edge between two distinct vertices x and y if and only if there exists a vertex v in D such that (x, v) and (y, v) are arcs of D. For any graph G, G together with sufficiently many isolated vertices is the competition graph of some acyclic digraph. The competition number k(G) of a graph G is the smallest number of such isolated vertices. Computing the competition number of a graph is an NP-hard problem in general and has been one of the important research problems in the study of competition graphs. Opsut [1982] showed that the competition number of a graph G is related to the edge clique cover number θ _E (G) of the graph G via θ _E (G) ? |V(G)| + 2 ≤ k(G) ≤ θ _E (G). We first show that for any positive integer m satisfying 2 ≤ m ≤ |V(G)|, there exists a graph G with k(G) = θ _E (G) ? |V(G)| + m and characterize a graph G satisfying k(G) = θ _E (G). We then focus on what we call competitively tight graphs G which satisfy the lower bound, i.e., k(G) = θ _E (G) ? |V(G)| + 2. We completely characterize the competitively tight graphs having at most two triangles. In addition, we provide a new upper bound for the competition number of a graph from which we derive a sufficient condition and a necessary condition for a graph to be competitively tight.     

Sets in Abelian groups with distinct sums of pairs

A subset S={s₁,…,sk} of an Abelian group G is called an St-set of size k if all sums of t different elements in S are distinct. Let s(G) denote the cardinality of the largest S₂-set in G. Let v(k) denote the order of the smallest Abelian group for which s(G)?k. In this article, bounds for s(G) are developed and v(k) is determined for k?15 by computing s(G) for Abelian groups of order up to 183 using exhaustive backtrack search with isomorph rejection.     

A note on Roman domination in graphs

Let G=(V,E) be a simple graph. A subset S⊆V is a dominating set of G, if for any vertex u∈V-S, there exists a vertex v∈S such that uv∈E. The domination number of G, γ(G), equals the minimum cardinality of a dominating set. A Roman dominating function on graph G=(V,E) is a function f:V→{0,1,2} satisfying the condition that every vertex v for which f(v)=0 is adjacent to at least one vertex u for which f(u)=2. The weight of a Roman dominating function is the value f(V)=∑_v∈Vf(v). The Roman domination number of a graph G, denoted by γ_R(G), equals the minimum weight of a Roman dominating function on G. In this paper, for any integer k(2?k?γ(G)), we give a characterization of graphs for which γ_R(G)=γ(G)+k, which settles an open problem in [E.J. Cockayne, P.M. Dreyer Jr, S.M. Hedetniemi et al. On Roman domination in graphs, Discrete Math. 278 (2004) 11-22].     

A note on traversing specified vertices in graphs embedded with large representativity

A graph G is said to have property P(2,k) if given any k+2 distinct vertices a,b,v₁,…,v_k, there is a path P in G joining a and b and passing through all of v₁,…,v_k. A graph G is said to have property C(k) if given any k distinct vertices v₁,…,v_k, there is a cycle C in G containing all of v₁,…,v_k. It is shown that if a 4-connected graph G is embedded in an orientable surface Σ (other than the sphere) of Euler genus eg(G,Σ), with sufficiently large representativity (as a function of both eg(G,Σ) and k), then G possesses both properties P(2,k) and C(k).     

Distance and fractional isomorphism in Steiner triple systems

In [8], Quattrochi and Rinaldi introduced the idea ofn ^?1-isomorphism between Steiner systems. In this paper we study this concept in the context of Steiner triple systems. The main result is that for any positive integerN, there existsv ₀(N) such that for all admissiblev≥v ₀(N) and for each STS(v) (sayS), there exists an STS(v) (sayS′) such that for somen>N, S is strictlyn ^?1-isomorphic toS′. We also prove that for all admissiblev≥13, there exist two STS(v)s which are strictly 2^?1-isomorphic. Define the distance between two Steiner triple systemsS andS′ of the same order to be the minimum volume of a tradeT which transformsS into a system isomorphic toS′. We determine the distance between any two Steiner triple systems of order 15 and, further, give a complete classification of strictly 2^?1-isomorphic and 3^?1-isomorphic pairs of STS(15)s.     

Steiner intervals, geodesic intervals, and betweenness

The concept of the k-Steiner interval is a natural generalization of the geodesic (binary) interval. It is defined as a mapping S:V×?×V?2^V such that S(u₁,…,u_k) consists of all vertices in G that lie on some Steiner tree with respect to a multiset W={u₁,…,u_k} of vertices from G. In this paper we obtain, for each k, a characterization of the class of graphs in which every k-Steiner interval S has the so-called union property, which says that S(u₁,…,u_k) coincides with the union of geodesic intervals I(u_i,u_j) between all pairs from W. It turns out that, as soon as k>3, this class coincides with the class of graphs in which the k-Steiner interval enjoys the monotone axiom (m), respectively (b2) axiom, the conditions from betweenness theory. Notably, S satisfies (m), if x₁,…,x_k∈S(u₁,…,u_k) implies S(x₁,…,x_k)⊆S(u₁,…,u_k), and S satisfies (b2) if x∈S(u₁,u₂,…,u_k) implies S(x,u₂,…,u_k)⊆S(u₁,…,u_k). In the case k=3, these three classes are different, and we give structural characterizations of graphs for which their Steiner interval S satisfies the union property as well as the monotone axiom (m). We also prove several partial observations on the class of graphs in which the 3-Steiner interval satisfies (b2), which lead to the conjecture that these are precisely the graphs in which every block is a geodetic graph with diameter at most two.     

Existence results for near resolvable designs

A near resolvable design, NRB(v, k), is a balanced incomplete block design whose block set can be partitioned into v classes such that each class contains every point of the design but one, and each point is missing from exactly one class. The necessary conditions for the existence of near resolvable designs are v ≡ 1 mod k and λ = k ? 1. These necessary conditions have been shown to be sufficient for k ? {2,3,4} and almost always sufficient for k ? {5,6}. We are able to show that there exists an integer n₀(k) so that NRB(v,k) exist for all v > n₀(k) and v ≡ 1 mod k. Using some new direct constructions we show that there are many k for which it is easy to compute an explicit bound on n₀(k). These direct constructions also allow us to build previously unknown NRB(v,5) and NRB(v,6). © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Diagonal norm hermitian matrices

If v is a norm on $\text{C}$ⁿ, let H(v) denote the set of all norm-Hermitians in $\text{C}$ⁿⁿ. Let S be a subset of the set of real diagonal matrices D. Then there exists a norm v such that S=H(v) (or S = H(v)∩D) if and only if S contains the identity and S is a subspace of D with a basis consisting of rational vectors. As a corollary, it is shown that, for a diagonable matrix h with distinct eigenvalues λ₁,…, λ_r, r?n, there is a norm v such that h ∈ H(v), but h^s?H(v), for some integer s, if and only if λ₂–λ₁,…, λ_r–λ₁ are linearly dependent over the rationals. It is also shown that the set of all norms v, for which H(v) consists of all real multiples of the identity, is an open, dense subset, in a natural metric, of the set of all norms.