Cyclic Relative Difference Sets and their p-Ranks

By modifying the constructions in Helleseth et al. [10] and No [15], we construct a family of cyclic ((q ^3k –1)/(q–1), q–1, q ^3k–1, q ^3k–2) relative difference sets, where q=3 ^e . These relative difference sets are liftings of the difference sets constructed in Helleseth et al. [10] and No [15]. In order to demonstrate that these relative difference sets are in general new, we compute p-ranks of the classical relative difference sets and 3-ranks of the newly constructed relative difference sets when q=3. By rank comparison, we show that the newly constructed relative difference sets are never equivalent to the classical relative difference sets, and are in general inequivalent to the affine GMW difference sets.     

A New Family of Cyclic Difference Sets with Singer Parameters in Characteristic Three

We construct a new family of cyclic difference sets with parameters ((3 ^d – 1)/2, (3 ^{d – 1} – 1)/2, (3 ^{d – 2} – 1)/2) for each odd d. The difference sets are constructed with certain maps that form Jacobi sums. These new difference sets are similar to Maschietti's hyperoval difference sets, of the Segre type, in characteristic two. We conclude by calculating the 3-ranks of the new difference sets.     

Mixed Partitions of Projective Geometries

Starting from a linear collineation of PG(2n–1,q) suitably constructed from a Singer cycle of GL(n,q), we prove the existence of a partition of PG(2n–1,q) consisting of two (n–1)-subspaces and caps, all having size (qⁿ–1)/(q–1) or (qⁿ–1)/(q+1) according as n is odd or even respectively. Similar partitions of quadrics or hermitian varieties into two maximal totally isotropic subspaces and caps of equal size are also obtained. We finally consider the possibility of partitioning the Segre variety of PG(8,q) into caps of size q²+q+1 which are Veronese surfaces.     

On a relation between a cyclic relative difference set associated with the quadratic extensions of a finite field and the Szekeres difference sets

Letq 3 (mod 4) be a prime power and put . We consider a cyclic relative difference set with parametersq ²–1,q, 1,q–1 associated with the quadratic extension GF(q²)/GF((q). The even part and the odd part of the cyclic relative difference set taken modulon are supplementary difference sets. Moreover it turns out that their complementary subsets are identical with the Szekeres difference sets. This result clarifies the true nature of the Szekeres difference sets. We prove these results by using the theory of the relative Gauss sums.     

Caps on Elliptic Quadrics

G. L. Ebert (1985) constructed (qⁿ + 1)-caps in PG(2n − 1, q), n even, which were the orbits of the subgroup of order qⁿ + 1 of a cyclic Singer group of PG(2n − 1, q). This article shows that these caps are the intersection of n − 1 linearly independent elliptic quadrics of PG(2n − 1, q).     

On the p-Ranks and Characteristic Polynomials of Cyclic Difference Sets

In this paper, the p-ranks and characteristic polynomials of cyclic difference sets are derived by expanding the trace expressions of their characteristic sequences. Using this method, it is shown that the 3-ranks and characteristic polynomials of the Helleseth–Kumar–Martinsen (HKM) difference set and the Lin difference set can be easily obtained. Also, the p-rank of a Singer difference set is reviewed and the characteristic polynomial is calculated using our approach.     

Baer subgeometry partitions

For any odd integern 3 and prime powerq, it is known thatPG(n–1, q²) can be partitioned into pairwise disjoint subgeometries isomorphic toPG(n–1, q) by taking point orbits under an appropriate subgroup of a Singer cycle ofPG(n–1, q²). In this paper, we construct Baer subgeometry partitions of these spaces which do not arise in the classical manner. We further illustrate some of the connections between Baer subgeometry partitions and several other areas of combinatorial interest, most notably projective sets and flagtransitive translation planes.     

Optimal and perfect difference systems of sets from <Emphasis Type="Italic">q</Emphasis>-ary sequences with difference-balanced property

Difference systems of sets (DSS) are important for the construction of codes for synchronization. In this paper, a general construction of optimal and perfect difference systems of sets based on q-ary sequences of period n = −1 (mod q) with difference- balanced property is presented, where q is a prime power. This works for all the known q-ary sequences with ideal autocorrelation, and generalizes the earlier construction based on ternary sequences with ideal autocorrelation. In addition, we construct another class of optimal and perfect difference systems of sets, employing decimation of q-ary d-form sequences of period q ^m −1 with difference-balanced property, which generalizes the previous construction from power functions.     

Graceful Signed Graphs

A (p, q)-sigraph S is an ordered pair (G, s) where G = (V, E) is a (p, q)-graph and s is a function which assigns to each edge of G a positive or a negative sign. Let the sets E ⁺ and E ^– consist of m positive and n negative edges of G, respectively, where m + n = q. Given positive integers k and d, S is said to be (k, d)-graceful if the vertices of G can be labeled with distinct integers from the set {0, 1, ..., k + (q – 1)d such that when each edge uv of G is assigned the product of its sign and the absolute difference of the integers assigned to u and v the edges in E ⁺ and E ^– are labeled k, k + d, k + 2d, ..., k + (m – 1)d and –k, – (k + d), – (k + 2d), ..., – (k + (n – 1)d), respectively.In this paper, we report results of our preliminary investigation on the above new notion, which indeed generalises the well-known concept of (k, d)-graceful graphs due to B. D. Acharya and S. M. Hegde.     

Hadamard and Conference Matrices

We discuss new constructions of Hadamard and conference matrices using relative difference sets. We present the first example of a relative -difference set where n – 1 is not a prime power.     

Normal Spreads

In Dedicata 16 (1984), pp. 291–313, the representation of Desarguesian spreads of the projective space PG(2t – 1, q) into the Grassmannian of the subspaces of rank t of PG(2t – 1, q) has been studied. Using a similar idea, we prove here that a normal spread of PG(rt – 1,q) is represented on the Grassmannian of the subspaces of rank t of PG(rt – 1, q) by a cap V _{r, t} of PG(r ^t – 1, q), which is the GF(q)-scroll of a Segre variety product of t projective spaces of dimension (r – 1), and that the collineation group of PG(r ^t – 1, q) stabilizing V _{r, t} acts 2-transitively on V _{r, t} . In particular, we prove that V _{3, 2} is the union of q ² – q + 1 disjoint Veronese surfaces, and that a Hermitan curve of PG(2, q ²) is represented by a hyperplane section U of V _{3, 2}. For q 0,2 (mod 3) the algebraic variety U is the unitary ovoid of the hyperbolic quadric Q ⁺ (7, q) constructed by W. M. Kantor in Canad. J. Math., 5 (1982), 1195–1207. Finally we study a class of blocking sets, called linear, proving that many of the known examples of blocking sets are of this type, and we construct an example in PG(3, q ²). Moreover, a new example of minimal blocking set of the Desarguesian projective plane, which is linear, has been constructed by P. Polito and O. Polverino.     

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.      

Multiple Blocking Sets in PG(n, q), n > 3

This article discusses minimal s-fold blocking sets B in PG (n, q), q = p^h, p prime, q > 661, n > 3, of size |B| > sq + c ^p q ^2/3 - (s - 1) (s - 2)/2 (s > min (c ^p q ^1/6, q ^1/4/2)). It is shown that these s-fold blocking sets contain the disjoint union of a collection of s lines and/or Baer subplanes. To obtain these results, we extend results of Blokhuis–Storme–Szönyi on s-fold blocking sets in PG(2, q) to s-fold blocking sets having points to which a multiplicity is given. Then the results in PG(n, q), n 3, are obtained using projection arguments. The results of this article also improve results of Hamada and Helleseth on codes meeting the Griesmer bound.     

Cyclic Difference Packing and Covering Arrays

Let n and k be positive integers. Let C_q be a cyclic group of order q. A cyclic difference packing (covering) array, or a CDPA(k, n; q) (CDCA(k, n; q)), is a k × n array (a_ij) with entries a_ij (0 ≤ i ≤ k−1, 0 ≤ j ≤ n−1) from C_q such that, for any two rows t and h (0 ≤ t < h ≤ k−1), every element of C_q occurs in the difference list at most (at least) once. When q is even, then n ≤ q−1 if a CDPA(k, n; q) with k ≥ 3 exists, and n ≥ q+1 if a CDCA(k, n; q) with k ≥ 3 exists. It is proved that a CDCA(4, q+1; q) exists for any even positive integers, and so does a CDPA(4, q−1; q) or a CDPA(4, q−2; q). The result is established, for the most part, by means of a result on cyclic difference matrices with one hole, which is of interest in its own right.     

Tightening Turyn’s bound for Hadamard difference sets

This work examines the existence of (4q ²,2q ²−q,q ²−q) difference sets, for q=p ^f , where p is a prime and f is a positive integer. Suppose that G is a group of order 4q ² which has a normal subgroup K of order q such that G/K ≅ C _q ×C ₂×C ₂, where C _q ,C ₂ are the cyclic groups of order q and 2 respectively. Under the assumption that p is greater than or equal to 5, this work shows that G does not admit (4q ²,2q ²−q,q ²−q) difference sets.     

A Bose-Burton Theorem for Elliptic Polar Spaces

In bose&burton, Bose and Burton determined the smallest point sets of PG(d, q) that meet every subspace of PG(d, q) of a given dimension c. In this paper an equivalent result for quadrics of elliptic type is obtained. It states the folloing. For 0 c n - 1 the smallest point set of the elliptic quadric Q ^-(2n + 1, q) that meets every singular subspace of dimension c of Q ^-(2n + 1, q) has cardinality (q ⁿ⁺¹ + q ^c )(q ^n-c - 1)/(q - 1). Furthermore, the point sets of the smallest cardinality are classified.     

Special point sets inPG(n,q) and the structure of sets with the maximal number of nuclei

The structure of _{n– 1}-sets inPG(n, q) with more thanq – 1 nuclei is investigated. It is shown that classification of these sets with the maximal numberq ^{n– 1}-q ^{n– 2} of nuclei is equivalent to the classification of (q + l)-sets inPG(2,q) havingq –1 nuclei.Dedicated to Professer Walter Benz for his 60^th birthday     

Abelian Difference Sets Without Self-conjugacy

We obtain some results that are useful to the study of abelian difference sets and relative difference sets in cases where the self-conjugacy assumption does not hold. As applications we investigate McFarland difference sets, which have parameters of the form v=q^d+1( q^d+ q^d-1 +...+ q+2) ,k=q^d( q^d+q^d-1+...+q+1) , = q^d ( q^(d-1)+q^(d-2)+...+q+1), where q is a prime power andd a positive integer. Using our results, we characterize those abelian groups that admit a McFarland difference set of order k- = 81. We show that the Sylow 3-subgroup of the underlying abelian group must be elementary abelian. Our results fill two missing entries in Kopilovich's table with answer no.     

Building Symmetric Designs With Building Sets

We introduce a uniform technique for constructing a family of symmetric designs with parameters (v(q ^m+1-1)/(q-1), kq ^m ,q ^m), where m is any positive integer, (v, k, ) are parameters of an abelian difference set, and q = k ²/(k - ) is a prime power. We utilize the Davis and Jedwab approach to constructing difference sets to show that our construction works whenever (v, k, ) are parameters of a McFarland difference set or its complement, a Spence difference set or its complement, a Davis–Jedwab difference set or its complement, or a Hadamard difference set of order 9 · 4 ^d , thus obtaining seven infinite families of symmetric designs.     

Relative -difference sets in p-subgroups of

In this note, we study relative (p^a,p^b,p^a,p^a−b)-relative difference sets in certain p-subgroups of SL(n,K), K=F_q, where q is a prime power.