Group Divisible Designs with Block Size Four and Group Type for

Nonuniform group divisible designs (GDDs) have been studied by numerous researchers for the past two decades due to their essential role in the constructions for other types of designs. In this paper, we investigate the existence problem of ‐GDDs of type for . First, we determine completely the spectrum of ‐GDDs of types and . Furthermore, for general cases, we show that for each and , a ‐GDD of type exists if and only if , and , except possibly for , and .     

Locally 3‐Transitive Graphs of Girth 4

A natural topic of algebraic graph theory is the study of vertex transitive graphs. In the present article, we investigate locally 3‐transitive graphs of girth 4. Taking our former results on locally symmetric graphs of girth 4 as a starting point, we show what properties are retained if we weaken the requirement of local symmetry to local 3‐transitivity.     

Flag‐transitive 2‐ designs of product type

In this paper, we prove that if a 2‐ design admits a flag‐transitive automorphism group G, then G is of affine, almost simple type, or product type. Furthermore, we prove that if G is product type then is either a 2‐(25, 4, 12) design or a 2‐(25, 4, 18) design with .     

Flag‐Transitive 2‐ Symmetric Designs with Sporadic Socle

Let be a nontrivial 2‐ symmetric design admitting a flag‐transitive, point‐primitive automorphism group G of almost simple type with sporadic socle. We prove that there are up to isomorphism six designs, and must be one of the following: a 2‐(144, 66, 30) design with or , a 2‐(176, 50, 14) design with , a 2‐(176, 126, 90) design with or , or a 2‐(14,080, 12,636, 11,340) design with .     

On divisible designs and twisted field planes

Starting from desarguesian and twisted field planes we construct and study some classes of divisible designs admitting an automorphism group which is 2-transitive on the set of point classes.     

An Alternative Way to Generalize the Pentagon

We introduce the concept of a pentagonal geometry as a generalization of the pentagon and the Desargues configuration, in the same vein that the generalized polygons share the fundamental properties of ordinary polygons. In short, a pentagonal geometry is a regular partial linear space in which for all points x, the points not collinear with the point x, form a line. We compute bounds on their parameters, give some constructions, obtain some nonexistence results for seemingly feasible parameters and suggest a cryptographic application related to identifying codes of partial linear spaces.     

The 2‐Blocking Number and the Upper Chromatic Number of PG(2,q)

A twofold blocking set (double blocking set) in a finite projective plane Π is a set of points, intersecting every line in at least two points. The minimum number of points in a double blocking set of Π is denoted by τ₂(Π). Let PG(2,q) be the Desarguesian projective plane over GF(q), the finite field of q elements. We show that if q is odd, not a prime, and r is the order of the largest proper subfield of GF(q), then τ₂PG(2,q))≤ 2(q+(q‐1)/(r‐1)). For a finite projective plane Π, let denote the maximum number of classes in a partition of the point‐set, such that each line has at least two points in some partition class. It can easily be seen that (?) for every plane Π on v points. Let , p prime. We prove that for , equality holds in (?) if q and p are large enough.     

Cops and Robbers on Graphs Based on Designs

We investigate the cop number of graphs based on combinatorial designs. Incidence graphs, point graphs, and block intersection graphs are studied, with an emphasis on finding families of graphs with large cop number. We generalize known results on Meyniel extremal families by supplying bounds on the incidence graphs of transversal designs, certain G‐designs, and BIBDs with Families of graphs with diameter 2, C₄‐free, and with unbounded chromatic number are described with the conjectured asymptotically maximum cop number.     

A Family of Partial Geometric Designs from Three‐Class Association Schemes

In this paper, we show that partial geometric designs can be constructed from certain three‐class association schemes and ternary linear codes with dual distance three. In particular, we obtain a family of partial geometric designs from the three‐class association schemes introduced by Kageyama, Saha, and Das in their article [“Reduction of the number of associate classes of hypercubic association schemes,” Ann Inst Statist Math 30 (1978)]. We also give a list of directed strongly regular graphs arising from the partial geometric designs obtained in this paper.     

Symmetric Graphs and Flag Graphs

 With any G-symmetric graph Γ admitting a nontrivial G-invariant partition , we may associate a natural “cross-sectional” geometry, namely the 1-design in which for and if and only if α is adjacent to at least one vertex in C, where and is the neighbourhood of B in the quotient graph of Γ with respect to . In a vast number of cases, the dual 1-design of contains no repeated blocks, that is, distinct vertices of B are incident in with distinct subsets of blocks of . The purpose of this paper is to give a general construction of such graphs, and then prove that it produces all of them. In particular, we show that such graphs can be reconstructed from and the induced action of G on . The construction reveals a close connection between such graphs and certain G-point-transitive and G-block-transitive 1-designs. By using this construction we give a characterization of G-symmetric graphs such that there is at most one edge between any two blocks of . This leads to, in a subsequent paper, a construction of G-symmetric graphs such that and each is incident in with vertices of B. The work was supported by a discovery-project grant from the Australian Research Council. Received April 24, 2001; in revised form October 9, 2002 Published online May 9, 2003     

Minimal blocking sets of size 2p – 2 and 2p – 3 in PG(2, p), p prime and p > 5

A general construction of minimal blocking sets of size 2p – 3, where p is a prime and p ≡ 1 (mod 4), p > 5, and of size 2p – 2, where p is a prime and p ≡ 3 (mod 4), p > 5 in PG(2, p) is presented. These blocking sets are all of Rédei type.      

Group divisible designs with block size four and type gum1—III

We deal with group divisible designs (GDDs) that have block size four and group type $g^u{m}^1$, where $g\equiv 2$ or 4 (mod 6). We show that the necessary conditions for the existence of a 4‐GDD of type $g^u{m}^1$ are sufficient when $g$ = 14, 20, 22, 26, 28, 32, 34, 38, 40, 44, 46, 50, 52, 58, 62, 68, 76, 88, 92, 100, 104, 116, 124, 136, 152, 160, 176, 184, 200, 208, 224, 232, 248, 272, 304, 320, 368, 400, 448, 464 and 496. Using these results we go on to show that the necessary conditions are sufficient for $g=2^t{q}^s$, $q$ = 19, 23, 25, 29, 31, $s$, $t=1,2,\dots$, as well as for $g=2^{t}q$, $q$ = 2, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, $t=1,2,\dots$, with possible exceptions $56^9{m}^1$, $80^9{m}^1$ and $112^9{m}^1$ for a few large values of $m$.     

Mutually Disjoint 5‐Designs and 5‐Spontaneous Emission Error Designs from Extremal Ternary Self‐Dual Codes

It is known that extremal ternary self‐dual codes of length mod 12) yield 5‐designs. Previously, mutually disjoint 5‐designs were constructed by using single known generator matrix of bordered double circulant ternary self‐dual codes (see [1, 2]). In this paper, a number of generator matrices of bordered double circulant extremal ternary self‐dual codes are searched with the aid of computer. Using these codes we give many mutually disjoint 5‐designs. As a consequence, a list of 5‐spontaneous emission error designs are obtained.     

Jordan Homomorphisms and Harmonic Mappings

 We show that each Jordan homomorphism R → R′ of rings gives rise to a harmonic mapping of one connected component of the projective line over R into the projective line over R′. If there is more than one connected component then this mapping can be extended in various ways to a harmonic mapping which is defined on the entire projective line over R. Received December 7, 2001; in revised form April 28, 2002 Published online January 7, 2003     

Minimum Vertex Degree Threshold for ‐tiling*

We prove that the vertex degree threshold for tiling (the 3‐uniform hypergraph with four vertices and two triples) in a 3‐uniform hypergraph on vertices is , where if and otherwise. This result is best possible, and is one of the first results on vertex degree conditions for hypergraph tiling.     

2‐(v,k,1) Designs Admitting a Primitive Rank 3 Automorphism Group of Affine Type: The Extraspecial and the Exceptional Classes

2‐(v,k,1) designs admitting a primitive rank 3 automorphism group , where G₀ belongs to the Extraspecial Class, or to the Exceptional Class of Liebeck's Theorem in [23], are classified.     

Flocks and ovals

An infinite family of q-clans, called the Subiaco q-clans, is constructed for q=2^e. Associated with these q-clans are flocks of quadratic cones, elation generalized quadrangles of order (q ², q), ovals of PG(2, q) and translation planes of order q ² with kernel GF(q). It is also shown that a q-clan, for q=2^e, is equivalent to a certain configuration of q+1 ovals of PG(2, q), called a herd.W. Cherowitzo gratefully acknowledges the support of the Australian Research Council and has the deepest gratitude and warmest regards for the Combinatorial Computing Research Group at the University of Western Australia for their congenial hospitality and moral support. I. Pinneri gratefully acknowledges the support of a University of Western Australia Research Scholarship.     

More-Than-Nearly-Perfect Packings and Partial Designs

o (n) of the n vertices. Here we show, in particular, that regular uniform hypergraphs for which the ratio of degree to maximum codegree is , for some ɛ>0, have packings which cover all but vertices, where α=α(ɛ)>0. The proof is based on the analysis of a generalized version of R?dl's nibble technique. We apply the result to the problem of finding partial Steiner systems with almost enough blocks to be Steiner systems, where we prove that, for fixed positive integers t<k, there exist partial S(t,k,n)'s with at most uncovered t-sets, improving the earlier result. Received: September 23, 1994/Revised: November 14, 1996     

Finite 2‐Distance Transitive Graphs

A noncomplete graph Γ is said to be (G, 2)‐distance transitive if G is a subgroup of the automorphism group of Γ that is transitive on the vertex set of Γ, and for any vertex u of Γ, the stabilizer is transitive on the sets of vertices at distances 1 and 2 from u. This article investigates the family of (G, 2)‐distance transitive graphs that are not (G, 2)‐arc transitive. Our main result is the classification of such graphs of valency not greater than 5. We also prove several results about (G, 2)‐distance transitive, but not (G, 2)‐arc transitive graphs of girth 4.