On Relative Difference Sets in Dihedral Groups

In this paper, we study extensions of trivial difference sets in dihedral groups. Such relative difference sets have parameters of the form (uλ,u,uλ, λ) or (uλ+2,u, uλ+1, λ) and are called semiregular or affine type, respectively. We show that there exists no nontrivial relative difference set of affine type in any dihedral group. We also show a connection between semiregular relative difference sets in dihedral groups and Menon–Hadamard difference sets. In the last section of the paper, we consider (m, u, k, λ) difference sets of general type in a dihedral group relative to a non-normal subgroup. In particular, we show that if a dihedral group contains such a difference set, then m is neither a prime power nor product of two distinct primes.