| Abstract: | For q a prime power and k odd (even), we define a (q,k,1) difference family to be radical if each base block is a coset of the kth roots of unity in the multiplicative group of GF(q) (the union of a coset of the (k ? 1)th roots of unity in the multiplicative group of GF(q) with zero). Such a family will be denoted by RDF. The main result on this subject is a theorem dated 1972 by R.M. Wilson; it is a sufficient condition for the existence of a (q,k, 1)-RDF for any k. We improve this result by replacing Wilson's condition with another sufficient but weaker condition, which is proved to be necessary at least for k ? 7. As a consequence, we get new difference families and hence new Steiner 2-designs. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. |
