Large sets of t-designs through partitionable sets: A survey

The method of partitionable sets for constructing large sets of t-designs have now been used for nearly a decade. The method has resulted in some powerful recursive constructions and also existence results especially for large sets of prime sizes. Perhaps the main feature of the approach is its simplicity. In this paper, we describe the approach and show how it is employed to obtain some of the recursive theorems. We also review the existence results and recursive constructions which have been found by this method.     

The spectrum for large sets of pure Mendelsohn triple systems

An LPMTS(v) is a collection of v-2 disjoint pure Mendelsohn triple systems on the same set of v elements. In this paper, the concept of t-purely partitionable Mendelsohn candelabra system (or t-PPMCS in short) is introduced for constructing LPMTS(v)s. A powerful recursive construction for t-PPMCSs is also displayed by utilizing s-fan designs. Together with direct constructions, the existence of an LPMTS(v) for and v>1 is established. For odd integer v?7, a special construction from both LPMTS(v) and OLPMTS(v) to LPMTS(2v+1) is set up. Finally, the existence of an LPMTS(v) is completely determined to be the set .     

On central difference sets in certain non-abelian 2-groups

In this note, we define the class of finite groups of Suzuki type, which are non-abelian groups of exponent 4 and class 2 with special properties. A group G of Suzuki type with |G|=2^2s always possesses a non-trivial difference set. We show that if s is odd, G possesses a central difference set, whereas if s is even, G has no non-trivial central difference set.     

A New Construction of Group Divisible Designs with Nonuniform Group Type

The construction of group divisible designs (GDDs) is a basic problem in design theory. While there have been some methods concerning the constructions of uniform GDDs, the construction of nonuniform GDDs remains a challenging problem. In this paper, we present a new approach to the construction of nonuniform GDDs with group type and block size k. We make a progress by proposing a new construction, in which generalized difference sets, a truncating technique, and a difference method are combined to construct nonuniform GDDs. Moreover, we present a variation of this new construction by employing Rees' product constructions. We obtain several infinite families of nonuniform GDDs, as well as many examples whose block sizes are relatively large.     

Elliptic semiplanes and group divisible designs with orthogonal resolutions

In this paper we prove that there exists an elliptic semiplaneS(v, k, m) withk –m 2 if and only if there exists a group divisible design GDD _k ((k –m)(k – 1);k –m; 0, 1) withm pairwise orthogonal resolutions. As an example of this theorem, we construct an elliptic semiplaneW(45, 7, 3) and show thatW is isomorphic to the elliptic semiplaneS(45, 7, 3) given by R. D. Baker.     

Scheduling CCRR tournaments

In this paper, we construct CCRRS, complete coupling round robin schedules, for n teams each consisting of two pairs. The motivation for these schedules is a problem in scheduling bridge tournaments. We construct CCRRS(n) for n a positive integer, n?3, with the possible exceptions of n∈{54,62}. For n odd, we show that a CCRRS(n) can be constructed using a house with a special property. For n even, a CCRRS(n) can be constructed from a Howell design, H(2n-2,2n), with a special property called Property P. We use a combination of direct and recursive constructions to construct H(2n-2,2n) with Property P. In order to apply our main recursive construction, we need group divisible designs with odd group sizes and odd block sizes. One of our main results is the existence of these group divisible designs.     

Integral trees of diameter 6

A graph G is called integral if all eigenvalues of its adjacency matrix A(G) are integers. In this paper, the trees T(p,q)•T(r,m,t) and K_1,s•T(p,q)•T(r,m,t) of diameter 6 are defined. We determine their characteristic polynomials. We also obtain for the first time sufficient and conditions for them to be integral. To do so, we use number theory and apply a computer search. New families of integral trees of diameter 6 are presented. Some of these classes are infinite. They are different from those in the existing literature. We also prove that the problem of finding integral trees of diameter 6 is equivalent to the problem of solving some Diophantine equations. We give a positive answer to a question of Wang et al. [Families of integral trees with diameters 4, 6 and 8, Discrete Appl. Math. 136 (2004) 349-362].     

Some remarks on the odd hadwiger’s conjecture

We say that H has an odd complete minor of order at least l if there are l vertex disjoint trees in H such that every two of them are joined by an edge, and in addition, all the vertices of trees are two-colored in such a way that the edges within the trees are bichromatic, but the edges between trees are monochromatic. Gerards and Seymour conjectured that if a graph has no odd complete minor of order l, then it is (l ? 1)-colorable. This is substantially stronger than the well-known conjecture of Hadwiger. Recently, Geelen et al. proved that there exists a constant c such that any graph with no odd K _k -minor is ck√logk-colorable. However, it is not known if there exists an absolute constant c such that any graph with no odd K _k -minor is ck-colorable. Motivated by these facts, in this paper, we shall first prove that, for any k, there exists a constant f(k) such that every (496k + 13)-connected graph with at least f(k) vertices has either an odd complete minor of size at least k or a vertex set X of order at most 8k such that G–X is bipartite. Since any bipartite graph does not contain an odd complete minor of size at least three, the second condition is necessary. This is an analogous result of Böhme et al. We also prove that every graph G on n vertices has an odd complete minor of size at least n/2α(G) ? 1, where α(G) denotes the independence number of G. This is an analogous result of Duchet and Meyniel. We obtain a better result for the case α(G)= 3.     

A few more Kirkman squares and doubly near resolvable BIBDs with block size 3

A Kirkman square with index λ, latinicity μ, block size k, and v points, KS_k(v;μ,λ), is a t×t array (t=λ(v-1)/μ(k-1)) defined on a v-set V such that (1) every point of V is contained in precisely μ cells of each row and column, (2) each cell of the array is either empty or contains a k-subset of V, and (3) the collection of blocks obtained from the non-empty cells of the array is a (v,k,λ)-BIBD. In a series of papers, Lamken established the existence of the following designs: KS₃(v;1,2) with at most six possible exceptions [E.R. Lamken, The existence of doubly resolvable (v,3,2)-BIBDs, J. Combin. Theory Ser. A 72 (1995) 50-76], KS₃(v;2,4) with two possible exceptions [E.R. Lamken, The existence of KS₃(v;2,4)s, Discrete Math. 186 (1998) 195-216], and doubly near resolvable (v,3,2)-BIBDs with at most eight possible exceptions [E.R. Lamken, The existence of doubly near resolvable (v,3,2)-BIBDs, J. Combin. Designs 2 (1994) 427-440]. In this paper, we construct designs for all of the open cases and complete the spectrum for these three types of designs. In addition, Colbourn, Lamken, Ling, and Mills established the spectrum of KS₃(v;1,1) in 2002 with 23 possible exceptions. We construct designs for 11 of the 23 open cases.     

Non-uniform Turán-type problems

Given positive integers n,k,t, with 2?k?n, and t<2^k, let m(n,k,t) be the minimum size of a family F of (nonempty distinct) subsets of [n] such that every k-subset of [n] contains at least t members of F, and every (k-1)-subset of [n] contains at most t-1 members of F. For fixed k and t, we determine the order of magnitude of m(n,k,t). We also consider related Turán numbers T_?r(n,k,t) and T_r(n,k,t), where T_?r(n,k,t) (T_r(n,k,t)) denotes the minimum size of a family such that every k-subset of [n] contains at least t members of F. We prove that T_?r(n,k,t)=(1+o(1))T_r(n,k,t) for fixed r,k,t with and n→∞.     

On the stability of the translation equation and dynamical systems

In this paper we prove the stability of the functional equation F(s,F(t,x))=F(s+t,x) in the class of functions F:R×I→I, which are continuous with respect to each variable, and where I⊂R is a real interval. We also discuss the stability in the sense of Hyers-Ulam of dynamical systems on I. We show some properties of δ-approximate solutions of the translation equation on a real interval.     

On thick subgroups of uncountable σ-compact locally compact commutative groups

We show that, for any uncountable commutative group (G,+), there exists a countable covering where each Gj is a subgroup of G satisfying the equality card(G/Gj)=card(G). This purely algebraic fact is used in certain constructions of thick and nonmeasurable subgroups of an uncountable σ-compact locally compact commutative group equipped with the completion of its Haar measure.     

The generalized Füredi conjecture holds for finite linear lattices

We say that a rank-unimodal poset P has rapidly decreasing rank numbers, or the RDR property, if above (resp. below) the largest ranks of P, the size of each level is at most half of the previous (resp. next) one. We show that a finite rank-unimodal, rank-symmetric, normalized matching, RDR poset of width w has a partition into w chains such that the sizes of the chains are one of two consecutive integers. In particular, there exists a partition of the linear lattices L_n(q) (subspaces of an n-dimensional vector space over a finite field, ordered by inclusion) into chains such that the number of chains is the width of L_n(q) and the sizes of the chains are one of two consecutive integers.     

On the sum relation of multiple Hurwitz zeta functions

In this paper we shall define the special-valued multiple Hurwitz zeta functions, namely the multiple t-values t(α) and define similarly the multiple star t-values as t^?(α). Then we consider the sum of all such multiple (star) t-values of fixed depth and weight with even argument and prove that such a sum can be evaluated when the evaluations of t({2m}ⁿ) and t*({2m}ⁿ) are clear. We give the evaluations of them in terms of the classical Euler numbers through their generating functions.     

On the variation of Tate-Shafarevich groups of elliptic curves over hyperelliptic curves

Let E be an elliptic curve over F=F_q(t) having conductor (p)·∞, where (p) is a prime ideal in F_q[t]. Let d∈F_q[t] be an irreducible polynomial of odd degree, and let . Assume (p) remains prime in K. We prove the analogue of the formula of Gross for the special value L(E⊗_FK,1). As a consequence, we obtain a formula for the order of the Tate-Shafarevich group Ш(E/K) when L(E⊗_FK,1)≠0.     

The number oft-wise balanced designs

We prove that the number oft-wise balanced designs of ordern is asymptotically , provided that blocks of sizet are permitted. In the process, we prove that the number oft-profiles (multisets of block sizes) is bounded below by and above by for constants c₂>c₁>0.     

Strong solutions for differential equations in abstract spaces

Let (E,F) be a locally convex space. We denote the bounded elements of E by . In this paper, we prove that if B_Eb is relatively compact with respect to the F topology and f:I×E_b→E_b is a measurable family of F-continuous maps then for each x₀∈E_b there exists a norm-differentiable, (i.e. differentiable with respect to the ∥·∥_F norm) local solution to the initial valued problem u_t(t)=f(t,u(t)), u(t₀)=x₀. All of this machinery is developed to study the Lipschitz stability of a nonlinear differential equation involving the Hardy-Littlewood maximal operator.     

An extremal set theoretical characterization of some steiner systems

Letn, k, t be integers,n>k>t≧0, and letm(n, k, t) denote the maximum number of sets, in a family ofk-subsets of ann-set, no two of which intersect in exactlyt elements. The problem of determiningm(n, k, t) was raised by Erdős in 1975. In the present paper we prove that ifk≦2t+1 andk−t is a prime, thenm(n, k, t)≦( _t ⁿ )( _k ^2k-t-1 )/( _t ^2k-t-1 ). Moreover, equality holds if and only if an (n, 2k−t−1,t)-Steiner system exists. The proof uses a linear algebraic approach.