Indivisible plexes in latin squares

In this paper, we present two constructions of divisible difference sets based on skew Hadamard difference sets. A special class of Hadamard difference sets, which can be derived from a skew Hadamard difference set and a Paley type regular partial difference set respectively in two groups of orders v ₁ and v ₂ with |v ₁ − v ₂| = 2, is contained in these constructions. Some result on inequivalence of skew Hadamard difference sets is also given in the paper. As a consequence of Delsarte’s theorem, the dual set of skew Hadamard difference set is also a skew Hadamard difference set in an abelian group. We show that there are seven pairwisely inequivalent skew Hadamard difference sets in the elementary abelian group of order 3⁵ or 3⁷, and also at least four pairwisely inequivalent skew Hadamard difference sets in the elementary abelian group of order 3⁹. Furthermore, the skew Hadamard difference sets deduced by Ree-Tits slice symplectic spreads are the dual sets of each other when q ≤ 3¹¹.      

Pseudo-Paley graphs and skew Hadamard difference sets from presemifields

Let (K, + ,*) be an odd order presemifield with commutative multiplication. We show that the set of nonzero squares of (K, *) is a skew Hadamard difference set or a Paley type partial difference set in (K, +) according as q is congruent to 3 modulo 4 or q is congruent to 1 modulo 4. Applying this result to the Coulter–Matthews presemifield and the Ding–Yuan variation of it, we recover a recent construction of skew Hadamard difference sets by Ding and Yuan [7]. On the other hand, applying this result to the known presemifields with commutative multiplication and having order q congruent to 1 modulo 4, we construct several families of pseudo-Paley graphs. We compute the p-ranks of these pseudo-Paley graphs when q = 3⁴, 3⁶, 3⁸, 3¹⁰, 5⁴, and 7⁴. The p-rank results indicate that these graphs seem to be new. Along the way, we also disprove a conjecture of René Peeters [17, p. 47] which says that the Paley graphs of nonprime order are uniquely determined by their parameters and the minimality of their relevant p-ranks. Dedicated to Dan Hughes on the occasion of his 80th birthday.     

Special subsets of difference sets with particular emphasis on skew Hadamard difference sets

This article introduces a new approach to studying difference sets via their additive properties. We introduce the concept of special subsets, which are interesting combinatorial objects in their own right, but also provide a mechanism for measuring additive regularity. Skew Hadamard difference sets are given special attention, and the structure of their special subsets leads to several results on multipliers, including a categorisation of the full multiplier group of an abelian skew Hadamard difference set. We also count the number of ways to write elements as a product of any number of elements of a skew Hadamard difference set.      

Paley type group schemes and planar Dembowski–Ostrom polynomials

In this paper we give some necessary and sufficient conditions for Dembowski–Ostrom polynomials to be planar. These conditions give a simple explanation of the Coulter–Matthews and Ding–Yin commutative semifields and enable us to obtain permutation polynomials from some of the Zha–Kyureghyan–Wang commutative semifields. We then give a generalization of Feng’s construction of Paley type group schemes in extra-special p-groups of exponent p and construct a family of Paley type group schemes in what we call the flag groups of finite fields. We also determine the strong multiplier groups of these group schemes. In the last section of this paper, we give a straightforward generalization of the twin prime power construction of difference sets to a construction of Hadamard designs from twin Paley type association schemes.     

Strongly regular Cayley graphs,skew Hadamard difference sets,and rationality of relative Gauss sums

In this paper, we give constructions of strongly regular Cayley graphs and skew Hadamard difference sets. Both constructions are based on choosing cyclotomic classes in finite fields. Our results generalize ten of the eleven sporadic examples of cyclotomic strongly regular graphs given by Schmidt and White (2002) [23] and several subfield examples into infinite families. These infinite families of strongly regular graphs have new parameters. The main tools that we employed are relative Gauss sums instead of explicit evaluations of Gauss sums.     

On perfect nonlinear functions

An Erratum has been published for this article in Journal of Combinatorial Designs 14: 82–82, 2006 . We give the equivalence between perfect nonlinear functions and appropriate splitting semi‐regular relative difference sets, construct a class of splitting relative difference sets by using Galois rings and bent functions, and prove that there exists a 4‐phase perfect nonlinear function if and only if the number of input variables is at least twice the number of output variables. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Skew Hadamard designs and their codes

Skew Hadamard designs (4n – 1, 2n – 1, n – 1) are associated to order 4n skew Hadamard matrices in the natural way. We study the codes spanned by their incidence matrices A and by I + A and show that they are self-dual after extension (resp. extension and augmentation) over fields of characteristic dividing n. Quadratic Residues codes are obtained in the case of the Paley matrix. Results on the p-rank of skew Hadamard designs are rederived in that way. Codes from skew Hadamard designs are classified. An optimal self-dual code over GF(5) is rediscovered in length 20. Six new inequivalent [56, 28, 16] self-dual codes over GF(7) are obtained from skew Hadamard matrices of order 56, improving the only known quadratic double circulant code of length 56 over GF(7).     

On the functions with pseudoconvex sublevel sets and optimality conditions

A new class of generalized convex functions, called the functions with pseudoconvex sublevel sets, is defined. They include quasiconvex ones. A complete characterization of these functions is derived. Further, it is shown that a continuous function admits pseudoconvex sublevel sets if and only if it is quasiconvex. Optimality conditions for a minimum of the nonsmooth nonlinear programming problem with inequality, equality and a set constraints are obtained in terms of the lower Hadamard directional derivative. In particular sufficient conditions for a strict global minimum are given where the functions have pseudoconvex sublevel sets.     

On a class of quaternary complex Hadamard matrices

We introduce a class of regular unit Hadamard matrices whose entries consist of two complex numbers and their conjugates for a total of four complex numbers. We then show that these matrices are contained in the Bose–Mesner algebra of an association scheme arising from skew Paley matrices.     

Schur positivity of skew Schur function differences and applications to ribbons and Schubert classes

Some new relations on skew Schur function differences are established both combinatorially using Schützenberger’s jeu de taquin, and algebraically using Jacobi-Trudi determinants. These relations lead to the conclusion that certain differences of skew Schur functions are Schur positive. Applying these results to a basis of symmetric functions involving ribbon Schur functions confirms the validity of a Schur positivity conjecture due to McNamara. A further application reveals that certain differences of products of Schubert classes are Schubert positive. For Manfred Schocker 1970–2006. S.J. van Willigenburg was supported in part by the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.     

Paley type partial difference sets in non <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-groups

By modifying a construction for Hadamard (Menon) difference sets we construct two infinite families of negative Latin square type partial difference sets in groups of the form where p is any odd prime. One of these families has the well-known Paley parameters, which had previously only been constructed in p-groups. This provides new constructions of Hadamard matrices and implies the existence of many new strongly regular graphs including some that are conference graphs. As a corollary, we are able to construct Paley–Hadamard difference sets of the Stanton-Sprott family in groups of the form when is a prime power. These are new parameters for such difference sets.      

Divisible designs and semi-regular relative difference sets from additive Hadamard cocycles

Additive Hadamard cocycles are a natural generalization of presemifields. In this paper, we study divisible designs and semi-regular relative difference sets obtained from additive Hadamard cocycles. We show that the designs obtained from additive Hadamard cocycles are flag transitive. We introduce a new product construction of Hadamard cocycles. We also study additive Hadamard cocycles whose divisible designs admit a polarity in which all points are absolute. Our main results include generalizations of a theorem of Albert and a theorem of Hiramine from presemifields to additive Hadamard cocycles. At the end, we generalize Maiorana-McFarland?s construction of bent functions to additive Hadamard cocycles.     

Finding nonnormal bent functions

The question if there exist nonnormal bent functions was an open question for several years. A Boolean function in n variables is called normal if there exists an affine subspace of dimension n/2 on which the function is constant. In this paper we give the first nonnormal bent function and even an example for a nonweakly normal bent function. These examples belong to a class of bent functions found in [J.F. Dillon, H. Dobbertin, New cyclic difference sets with Singer parameters, in: Finite Fields and Applications, to appear], namely the Kasami functions. We furthermore give a construction which extends these examples to higher dimensions. Additionally, we present a very efficient algorithm that was used to verify the nonnormality of these functions.     

Optimal and perfect difference systems of sets

Difference systems of sets (DSS) were introduced in 1971 by Levenstein for the construction of codes for synchronization, and are closely related to cyclic difference families. In this paper, algebraic constructions of difference systems of sets using functions with optimum nonlinearity are presented. All the difference systems of sets constructed in this paper are perfect and optimal. One conjecture on difference systems of sets is also presented.     

非交换Hadamard差集存在的一个必要条件

本文把文[1]的想法推广到非交换的情形,得到非交换Hadamard差集存在的一个必要条件.作为它的推论,一是解决了文[2]遗留下的一个未决情形,简化了其相应结果的证明;二是在自共轭条件满足时,对著名的交换Hadamard差集的Turyn指数界条件作出了改进.最后,提出了一个4p4阶群中交换Hadamard差集不存在的一个猜想.     

Abelian and non-abelian Paley type group schemes

In this paper, we present a construction of abelian Paley type group schemes which are inequivalent to Paley group schemes. We then determine the equivalence amongst their configurations, the Hadamard designs or the Paley type strongly regular graphs obtained from these group schemes, up to isomorphism. We also give constructions of several families of non-abelian Paley type group schemes using strong multiplier groups of the abelian Paley type group schemes, and present the first family of p-groups of non-square order and of non-prime exponent that contain Paley type group schemes for all odd primes p.     

Existence of non-trivial harmonic functions on Cartan–Hadamard manifolds of unbounded curvature

The Liouville property of a complete Riemannian manifold M (i.e., the question whether there exist non-trivial bounded harmonic functions on M) attracted a lot of attention. For Cartan–Hadamard manifolds the role of lower curvature bounds is still an open problem. We discuss examples of Cartan–Hadamard manifolds of unbounded curvature where the limiting angle of Brownian motion degenerates to a single point on the sphere at infinity, but where nevertheless the space of bounded harmonic functions is as rich as in the non-degenerate case. To see the full boundary the point at infinity has to be blown up in a non-trivial way. Such examples indicate that the situation concerning the famous conjecture of Greene and Wu about existence of non-trivial bounded harmonic functions on Cartan–Hadamard manifolds is much more complicated than one might have expected.      

Cylindric skew Schur functions

Cylindric skew Schur functions, which are a generalisation of skew Schur functions, arise naturally in the study of P-partitions. Also, recent work of A. Postnikov shows they have a strong connection with a problem of considerable current interest: that of finding a combinatorial proof of the non-negativity of the 3-point Gromov-Witten invariants. After explaining these motivations, we study cylindric skew Schur functions from the point of view of Schur-positivity. Using a result of I. Gessel and C. Krattenthaler, we generalise a formula of A. Bertram, I. Ciocan-Fontanine and W. Fulton, thus giving an expansion of an arbitrary cylindric skew Schur function in terms of skew Schur functions. While we show that no non-trivial cylindric skew Schur functions are Schur-positive, we conjecture that this can be reconciled using the new concept of cylindric Schur-positivity.     

The Field Descent Method

We obtain a broadly applicable decomposition of group ring elements into a “subfield part” and a “kernel part”. Applications include the verification of Lander’s conjecture for all difference sets whose order is a power of a prime >3 and for all McFarland, Spence and Chen/Davis/Jedwab difference sets. We obtain a new general exponent bound for difference sets. We show that there is no circulant Hadamard matrix of order v with 4<v<548, 964, 900 and no Barker sequence of length l with 13 < l ≤ 10²².