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.     

New Classes of Groups Containing Menon Difference Sets

A theorem due to Davis on the existence of Menon difference sets in 2-groups is generalised to non-2-groups. The existence of Menon difference sets in many new non-abelian groups is established.     

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.      

On the asymptotic existence of Hadamard matrices

It is conjectured that Hadamard matrices exist for all orders 4t (t>0). However, despite a sustained effort over more than five decades, the strongest overall existence results are asymptotic results of the form: for all odd natural numbers k, there is a Hadamard matrix of order k²[a+blog₂k], where a and b are fixed non-negative constants. To prove the Hadamard Conjecture, it is sufficient to show that we may take a=2 and b=0. Since Seberry's ground-breaking result, which showed that we may take a=0 and b=2, there have been several improvements where b has been by stages reduced to 3/8. In this paper, we show that for all ?>0, the set of odd numbers k for which there is a Hadamard matrix of order k²2+[?log₂k] has positive density in the set of natural numbers. The proof adapts a number-theoretic argument of Erdos and Odlyzko to show that there are enough Paley Hadamard matrices to give the result.     

Williamson Matrices and a Conjecture of Ito's

We point out an interesting connection between Williamson matrices and relative difference sets in nonabelian groups. As a consequence, we are able to show that there are relative (4t, 2, 4t, 2t)-difference sets in the dicyclic groups Q _8t = a, b|a ^4t = b ⁴ = 1, a ^2t = b ², b ^-1ab = a^-1 for all t of the form t = 2^a · 10 ^b · 26 ^c · m with a, b, c 0, m 1\ (mod 2), whenever 2m-1 or 4m-1 is a prime power or there is a Williamson matrix over _m. This gives further support to an important conjecture of Ito IT5 which asserts that there are relative (4t, 2, 4t, 2t)-difference sets in Q _8t for every positive integer t. We also give simpler alternative constructions for relative (4t, 2, 4t, 2t)-difference sets in Q _8t for all t such that 2t - 1 or 4t - 1 is a prime power. Relative difference sets in Q _8t with these parameters had previously been obtained by Ito IT1. Finally, we verify Ito's conjecture for all t 46.     

A family of C-partitions and T-matrices

In this article we give the definition of C-partitions in an abelian group, consider the relation between C-partitions, supplementary difference sets and T-matrices, and for an abelian group of order v = q² with q ≡ 3(mod8) a prime power obtain some constructions of C-partitions and T-matrices. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Combin Designs 7: 269–281, 1999     

Constructions of External Difference Families and Disjoint Difference Families

External difference families (EDFs) are a type of new combinatorial designs originated from cryptography. In this paper, some earlier ideas of recursive and cyclotomic constructions of combinatorial designs are extended, and a number of classes of EDFs and disjoint difference families are presented. A link between a subclass of EDFs and a special type of (almost) difference sets is set up.     

A weak difference set construction for higher dimensional designs

We continue the analysis of de Launey's modification of development of designs modulo a finite groupH by the action of an abelian extension function (AEF), and of the proper higher dimensional designs which result.We extend the characterization of allAEFs from the cyclic group case to the case whereH is an arbitrary finite abelian group.We prove that ourn-dimensional designs have the form (f(j ₁ j ₂ ...j _n )) (j _i J), whereJ is a subset of cardinality |H| of an extension groupE ofH. We say these designs have a weak difference set construction.We show that two well-known constructions for orthogonal designs fit this development scheme and hence exhibit families of such Hadamard matrices, weighing matrices and orthogonal designs of orderv for which |E|=2v. In particular, we construct proper higher dimensional Hadamard matrices for all orders 4t100, and conference matrices of orderq+1 whereq is an odd prime power. We conjecture that such Hadamard matrices exist for all ordersv0 mod 4.     

Special subsets of difference sets with particular emphasis on skew Hadamard difference sets

This article introduces a new approach to studying difference sets via their additive properties. We introduce the concept of special subsets, which are interesting combinatorial objects in their own right, but also provide a mechanism for measuring additive regularity. Skew Hadamard difference sets are given special attention, and the structure of their special subsets leads to several results on multipliers, including a categorisation of the full multiplier group of an abelian skew Hadamard difference set. We also count the number of ways to write elements as a product of any number of elements of a skew Hadamard difference set.      

On the asymptotic existence of cocyclic Hadamard matrices

Let q be an odd natural number. We prove there is a cocyclic Hadamard matrix of order ²10+tq whenever . We also show that if the binary expansion of q contains N ones, then there is a cocyclic Hadamard matrix of order ²4N−2q.     

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.     

非交换Hadamard差集存在的一个必要条件

本文把文[1]的想法推广到非交换的情形,得到非交换Hadamard差集存在的一个必要条件.作为它的推论,一是解决了文[2]遗留下的一个未决情形,简化了其相应结果的证明;二是在自共轭条件满足时,对著名的交换Hadamard差集的Turyn指数界条件作出了改进.最后,提出了一个4p4阶群中交换Hadamard差集不存在的一个猜想.