Smallest defining sets of directed triple systems

A directed triple system of order v, , is a pair (V,B) where V is a set of v elements and B is a collection of ordered triples of distinct elements of V with the property that every ordered pair of distinct elements of V occurs in exactly one triple as a subsequence. A set of triples in a D is a defining set for D if it occurs in no other on the same set of points. A defining set for D is a smallest defining set for D if D has no defining set of smaller cardinality. In this paper we are interested in the quantity