A family of non class-regular symmetric transversal designs of spread type

Many classes of symmetric transversal designs have been constructed from generalized Hadamard matrices and they are necessarily class regular. In (Hiramine, Des Codes Cryptogr 56:21–33, 2010) we constructed symmetric transversal designs using spreads of \mathbbZ_p²ⁿ{\mathbb{Z}_p^{2n}} with p a prime. In this article we show that most of them admit no class regular automorphism groups. This implies that they are never obtained from generalized Hadamard matrices. As far as we know, this is the first infinite family of non class-regular symmetric transversal designs.     

Transversal wave maps and transversal exponential wave maps

Transversal wave maps and wave maps are different. There are wave maps which are not transversal wave maps, and vice versa. However, if f is a wave map under certain circumstance, then f is a transversal wave map. We show that if f is a transversal exponential wave map, then the associated energy–momentum is transversally conserved. We finally obtain the relationship among transversal wave maps, transversal exponential wave maps and certain second order symmetric tensors.     

Modified generalized Hadamard matrices and constructions for transversal designs

It is well known that there exists a transversal design TD_λ[k; u] admitting a class regular automorphism group U if and only if there exists a generalized Hadamard matrix GH(u, λ) over U. Note that in this case the resulting transversal design is symmetric by Jungnickel’s result. In this article we define a modified generalized Hadamard matrix and show that transversal designs which are not necessarily symmetric can be constructed from these under a modified condition similar to class regularity even if it admits no class regular automorphism group.     

Quasi-residual quasi-symmetric designs

It is shown that for each λ ? 3, there are only finitely many quasi-residual quasi-symmetric (QRQS) designs and that for each pair of intersection numbers (x, y) not equal to (0, 1) or (1, 2), there are only finitely many QRQS designs.A design is shown to be affine if and only if it is QRQS with x = 0. A projective design is defined as a symmetric design which has an affine residual. For a projective design, the block-derived design and the dual of the point-derivate of the residual are multiples of symmetric designs.     

Some designs which admit strong tactical decompositions

Whenever there exist affine planes of orders n ? 1 and n, a construction is given for a 2 ? ((n + 1)(n ? 1)², n(n ? 1), n) design admitting a strong tactical decomposition. These designs are neither symmetric nor strongly resolvable but can be embedded in symmetric 2 ? (n³ ? n + 1, n², n) designs.     

Nonisomorphic Hadamard designs

A block b of a Hadamard design is called a good block if the symmetric difference b + b₁ is also a block for all nonparallel blocks b₁. The isomorphism classes of such designs having a good block are shown to be related to a double coset decomposition of a symmetric group. As an example, over one million mutually nonisomorphic 3-(32, 16, 7) designs of a certain type are constructed.Equivalence of Hadamard matrices is described in terms of designs and it is shown that nonisomorphic designs may arise from the same matrix.     

Symmetric Sets With Midpoints and Algebraically Equivalent Theories

In this paper we consider an algebraic generalization of symmetric spaces of noncompact type to a more general class of symmetric structures equipped with midpoints. These symmetric structures are shown to have close relationships to and even categorical equivalences with a variety of other algebraic structures: axiomatic midpoint spaces, uniquely 2-divisible twisted subgroups, transversal twisted subgroups of involutive groups, a special class of loops called B-loops, and gyrocommutative gyrogroups.     

Balanced nested designs and balanced arrays

Balanced nested designs are closely related to other combinatorial structures such as balanced arrays and balanced n-ary designs. In particular, the existence of symmetric balanced nested designs is equivalent to the existence of some balanced arrays. In this paper, various constructions for symmetric balanced nested designs are provided. They are used to determine the spectrum of symmetric balanced nested balanced incomplete block designs with block size 3 and 4.     

Divisible design graphs

A divisible design graph is a graph whose adjacency matrix is the incidence matrix of a divisible design. Divisible design graphs are a natural generalization of (v,k,λ)-graphs, and like (v,k,λ)-graphs they make a link between combinatorial design theory and algebraic graph theory. The study of divisible design graphs benefits from, and contributes to, both parts. Using information of the eigenvalues of the adjacency matrix, we obtain necessary conditions for existence. Old results of Bose and Connor on symmetric divisible designs give other conditions and information on the structure. Many constructions are given using various combinatorial structures, such as (v,k,λ)-graphs, distance-regular graphs, symmetric divisible designs, Hadamard matrices, and symmetric balanced generalized weighing matrices. Several divisible design graphs are characterized in terms of the parameters.     

A-optimal designs for an additive cubic model

Chan et al. (1998a) obtained A-optimal designs for an additive quadratic mixture model for q≥3 mixture components. In this paper, we obtain the A-optimal designs for an additive cubic model for q≥3 mixture components using the class of symmetric weighted centroid designs based on barycentres of various depths. We observe that barycentres of depths 0 and 2 are possible support points for an A-optimal design. We have also given the optimal weights of A-optimal designs for 3≤q≤17.     

On lower bounds on the size of designs in compact symmetric spaces of rank 1

The concept of t-designs in compact symmetric spaces of rank 1 is a generalization of the theory of classical t-designs. In this paper we obtain new lower bounds on the cardinality of designs in projective compact symmetric spaces of rank 1. With one exception our bounds are the first improvements of the classical bounds by more than one. We use the linear programming technique and follow the approach we have proposed for spherical codes and designs. Some examples are shown and compared with the classical bounds.     

The nonexistence of projective planes of order 12 with a collineation group of order 8

In this article, we prove that there does not exist a symmetric transversal design which admits an automorphism group of order 4 acting semiregularly on the point set and the block set. We use an orbit theorem for symmetric transversal designs to prove our result. As a corollary of the result, we prove that there is no projective plane of order 12 admitting a collineation group of order 8. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Combin Designs 16: 411–430, 2008     

On symmetric nets and generalized Hadamard matrices from affine designs

Symmetric nets are affine resolvable designs whose duals are also affine. It is shown that. up to isomorphism, there are exactly four symmetric (3, 3)-nets (v=b=27,k=9), and exactly two inequivalent 9×9 generalized Hadamard matrices over the group of order 3. The symmetric (3, 3)-nets are found as subnets of affine resolvable 2-(27, 9, 4) designs. Ten of the 68 non-isomorphic affine resolvable 2-(27, 9, 4) designs are not extensions of symmetric (3, 3)-subnets, providing the first examples of affine 2-(q³, q², q²–1/q–1) designs without symmetric (q, q)-subnets.     

Functional calculus of Dirac operators and complex perturbations of Neumann and Dirichlet problems

We prove that Neumann, Dirichlet and regularity problems for divergence form elliptic equations in the half-space are well posed in L₂ for small complex L_∞ perturbations of a coefficient matrix which is either real symmetric, of block form or constant. All matrices are assumed to be independent of the transversal coordinate. We solve the Neumann, Dirichlet and regularity problems through a new boundary operator method which makes use of operators in the functional calculus of an underlaying first order Dirac type operator. We establish quadratic estimates for this Dirac operator, which implies that the associated Hardy projection operators are bounded and depend continuously on the coefficient matrix. We also prove that certain transmission problems for k-forms are well posed for small perturbations of block matrices.     

Non-skew symmetric orthogonal matrices with constant diagonals

A matrix C of order n is orthogonal if CC^T=dI. In this paper, we restrict the study to orthogonal matrices with a constant m > 1 on the diagonal and ±1's off the diagonal. It is observed that all skew symmetric orthogonal matrices of this type are constructed from skew symmetric Hadamard matrices and vice versa. Some simple necessary conditions for the existence of non-skew orthogonal matrices are derived. Two basic construction techniques for non-skew orthogonal matrices are given. Several families of non-skew orthogonal matrices are constructed by applying the basic techniques to well-known combinatorial objects like balanced incomplete block designs. It is also shown that if m is even and n=0 (mod 4), then an orthogonal matrix must be skew symmetric. The structure of a non-skew orthogonal matrix in the special case of m odd,n=2 (mod 4) and m?1/6n is also studied in detail. Finally, a list of cases with n?50 is given where the existence of non-skew orthogonal matrices are unknown.     

Block designs with v = 10, k = 5, λ = 4

It was shown by Singhi that there are 21 nonisomorphic block designs BD (10, 5; 18, 9, 4) which are residual designs of (19, 9, 4) Hadamard designs. In this paper we show that there are no other block designs with these parameters, i.e., each such design is embeddable in a symmetric design. We give a complete list of these designs and their automorphism groups.     

Admissible parameters of symmetric designs satisfying v=4(k-\lambda )+2 and symmetric designs with inner balance

The admissible parameters of symmetric \((v,k,\lambda )\) designs satisfying \(v=4(k-\lambda )+2\) are shown to correspond with the solutions of a certain Pell equation. We then determine the feasible parameters of such designs that could have a quasi-symmetric residual design with respect to a block, and classify them into two possible families. Finally, we consider the feasible parameters of symmetric designs with inner balance as defined by Nilson and Heidtmann (Des. Codes Cryptogr. doi:10.1007/s10623-012-9730-2, (2012)), and show that (with one exception) they must all belong to one of these families.     

On simple and supersimple transversal designs

In this paper, the existence of a transversal design TD_λ (4, g) is proved for all indices λ satisfying 2 ≤ λ ≤ g such that any two of its blocks intersect in at most two elements. Similar results are obtained for transversal designs without repeated blocks. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Combin Designs 8: 311–320, 2000     

Counting maximal topologies on countable groups and rings

Two non-discrete Hausdorff group topologies τ₁, τ₂ on a group G are called transversal if the least upper bound τ₁∨τ₂ of τ₁ and τ₂ is the discrete topology. We show that a countable group G admitting non-discrete Hausdorff group topologies admits c² pairwise transversal complete group topologies on G (so c² maximal group topologies). Moreover, every abelian group G admits ²|G|² pairwise transversal complete group topologies.     

New recursive methods for transversal covers

A transversal cover is a set of gk points in k disjoint groups of size g and a minimum collection of transversal subset s, called blocks, such that any pair of points not contained in the same group appear in at least one block. The case g = 2 was investigated and completely solved by Sperner, Renyi, Katona, Kleitman, and Spencer. For all g, asymptotic results are known, but little is understood for small values of k. Sloane and others have initiated the investigation of g = 3. The present article is concerned with constructive techniques for all g and k. One of the principal constructions generalizes Wilson's theorem for transversal designs. This article also discusses a simulated annealing algorithm for finding transversal covers and gives a table of the best known transversal covers at this time. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Combin Designs 7: 185–203, 1999