Doyen–Wilson theorem for perfect hexagon triple systems

The graph consisting of the three 3-cycles (or triples) (a,b,c), (c,d,e), and (e,f,a), where a,b,c,d,e and f are distinct is called a hexagon triple. The 3-cycle (a,c,e) is called an inside 3-cycle; and the 3-cycles (a,b,c), (c,d,e), and (e,f,a) are called outside 3-cycles. A hexagon triple system of order v is a pair (X,C), where C is a collection of edge disjoint hexagon triples which partitions the edge set of 3K_v. Note that the outside 3-cycles form a 3-fold triple system. If the hexagon triple system has the additional property that the collection of inside 3-cycles (a,c,e) is a Steiner triple system it is said to be perfect. In 2004, Küçükçifçi and Lindner had shown that there is a perfect hexagon triple system of order v if and only if and v≥7. In this paper, we investigate the existence of a perfect hexagon triple system with a given subsystem. We show that there exists a perfect hexagon triple system of order v with a perfect sub-hexagon triple system of order u if and only if v≥2u+1, and u≥7, which is a perfect hexagon triple system analogue of the Doyen–Wilson theorem.