A design is a finite set of points in a space on which every "simple" functions averages to its global mean. Illustrative examples of simple functions are low-degree polynomials on the Euclidean sphere or on the Hamming cube.
We prove lower bounds on designs in spaces with a large group of symmetries. These spaces include globally symmetric Riemannian spaces (of any rank) and commutative association schemes with 1-transitive group of symmetries.
Our bounds are, in general, implicit, relying on estimates on the spectral behavior of certain symmetry-invariant linear operators. They reduce to the first linear programming bound for designs in globally symmetric Riemannian spaces of rank 1 or in distance regular graphs. The proofs are different though, coming from viewpoint of abstract harmonic analysis in symmetric spaces. As a dividend we obtain the following geometric fact: a design is large because a union of "spherical caps" around its points "covers" the whole space.
Stanley proved that for any centrally symmetric simplicial $d$-polytope $P$ with $d\geq 3$, $g_2(P) \geq {d \choose 2}-d$. We provide a characterization of centrally symmetric $d$-polytopes with $d\geq 4$ that satisfy this inequality as equality. This gives a natural generalization of the classical Lower Bound Theorem for simplicial polytopes to the setting of centrally symmetric simplicial polytopes.
This paper is a survey of recent advances as well as open problems in the study of face numbers of centrally symmetric simplicial polytopes and spheres. The topics discussed range from neighborliness of centrally symmetric polytopes and the upper bound theorem for centrally symmetric simplicial spheres to the generalized lower bound theorem for centrally symmetric simplicial polytopes and the lower bound conjecture for centrally symmetric simplicial spheres and manifolds.
The symmetric $2$-$(v,k,λ)$ designs, with $k>λ\left(λ-3 \right)/2$, admitting a flag-transitive, point-imprimitive automorphism group are completely classified: they are the known $2$-designs with parameters $(16,6,2),(45,12,3),(15,8,4)$ or $(96,20,4)$.
In 1987, Stanley conjectured that if a centrally symmetric Cohen--Macaulay simplicial complex $Δ$ of dimension $d-1$ satisfies $h_i(Δ)=\binom{d}{i}$ for some $i\geq 1$, then $h_j(Δ)=\binom{d}{j}$ for all $j\geq i$. Much more recently, Klee, Nevo, Novik, and Zheng conjectured that if a centrally symmetric simplicial polytope $P$ of dimension $d$ satisfies $g_i(\partial P)=\binom{d}{i}-\binom{d}{i-1}$ for some $d/2\geq i\geq 1$, then $g_j(\partial P)=\binom{d}{j}-\binom{d}{j-1}$ for all $d/2\geq j\geq i$. This note uses stress spaces to prove both of these conjectures.
We introduce the concept of linked systems of symmetric group divisible designs. The connection with association schemes is established, and as a consequence we obtain an upper bound on the number of symmetric group divisible designs which are linked. Several examples of linked systems of symmetric group divisible designs are provided.
It is well known that the permutahedron Pi_n has 2^n-2 facets. The Birkhoff polytope provides a symmetric extended formulation of Pi_n of size Theta(n^2). Recently, Goemans described a non-symmetric extended formulation of Pi_n of size Theta(n log(n)). In this paper, we prove that Omega(n^2) is a lower bound for the size of symmetric extended formulations of Pi_n.
I give an elementary proof that a quasi-symmetric design without repeated blocks on $v$ points has at most $v\choose2$ blocks, with equality if and only if it is a tight $4$-design.
The linked systems of symmetric group divisible designs of type II is introduced, and several examples are obtained from affine resolvable designs and mutually UFS Latin squares. Furthermore, an equivalence between such symmetric group divisible designs and some association schemes with $5$-classes is provided.
In a previous article, we proved tight lower bounds for the coefficients of the generalized $h$-vector of a centrally symmetric rational polytope using intersection cohomology of the associated projective toric variety. Here we present a new proof based on the theory of combinatorial intersection cohomology developed by Barthel, Brasselet, Fieseler and Kaup. This theory is also valid for nonrational polytopes when there are no corresponding toric varieties. So we can establish our bounds for centrally symmetric polytopes even without requiring them to be rational.
In this paper we construct two new symmetric designs with parameters 2-(176,50,14) as designs invariant under certain subgroups of the full automorphism group of the Higman design. One is self-dual and has the full automorphism group of size 11520 and other is not self-dual and has the full automorphism group of size 2520.
In this article, we study symmetric $(v, k, λ)$ designs admitting a flag-transitive and point-primitive automorphism group $G$ whose socle is $PSU_{4}(q)$. We prove that there exist eight non-isomorphic such designs for which $λ\in\{3,6,18\}$ and $G$ is either $PSU_{4}(2)$, or $PSU_{4}(2):2$.
In this paper, we derive an upper bound for higher order eigenvalues of the normalized Laplace operator associated with a symmetric finite graph in terms of lower order eigenvalues.
The dual codes of the ternary linear codes of the residual designs of biplanes on 56 points are used to prove the nonexistence of quasi-symmetric 2-$(56,12,9)$ and 2-$(57,12,11)$ designs with intersection numbers 0 and 3, and the nonexistence of a 2-$(267,57,12)$ quasi-3 design. The nonexistence of a 2-$(149,37,9)$ quasi-3 design is also proved.
We show that the spectral radius of an $N\times N$ random symmetric matrix with i.i.d. bounded centered but non-symmetrically distributed entries is bounded from below by $ 2 \*σ- o(N^{-6/11+ε}), $ where $σ^2 $ is the variance of the matrix entries and $ε$ is an arbitrary small positive number. Combining with our previous result from [7], this proves that for any $ε>0, $ one has $$ \|A_N\| =2 \*σ+ o(N^{-6/11+ε}) $$ with probability going to 1 as $N \to \infty. $
We show that the Smith normal form of a skew-symmetric D-optimal design of order $n\equiv 2\pmod{4}$ is determined by its order. Furthermore, we show that the Smith normal form of such a design can be written explicitly in terms of the order $n$, thereby proving a recent conjecture of Armario. We apply our result to show that certain D-optimal designs of order $n\equiv 2\pmod{4}$ are not equivalent to any skew-symmetric D-optimal design. We also provide a correction to a result in the literature on the Smith normal form of D-optimal designs.
This paper completes the classification of quasi-symmetric 2-$(64,24,46)$ designs of Blokhuis-Haemers type supported by the dual code $C^{\perp}$ of the binary linear code $C$ spanned by the lines of $AG(3,2^2)$ initiated in \cite{bgr-vdt}. It is shown that $C^{\perp}$ contains exactly 30,264 nonisomorphic quasi-symmetric 2-$(64,24,46)$ designs obtainable from maximal arcs in $AG(2,2^2)$ via the Blokhuis-Haemers construction. The related strongly regular graphs are also discussed.
We prove that a certain binary linear code associated with the incidence matrix of a quasi-symmetric 2-(37,9,8) design with intersection numbers 1 and 3 must be contained in an extremal doubly even self-dual code of length 40. Using the classification of extremal doubly even self-dual codes of length 40, we show that a quasi-symmetric 2-(37,9,8) design with intersection numbers 1 and 3 does not exist.
In this note we report the classification of all symmetric 2-(36,15,6) designs that admit an automorphism of order 2 and their incidence matrices generate an extremal ternary self-dual code. It is shown that up to isomorphism, there exists only one such design, having a full automorphism group of order 24, and the ternary code spanned by its incidence matrix is equivalent to the Pless symmetry code.
A $(v, k, λ)$ symmetric design is said to have the symmetric difference property (SDP) if the symmetric difference of any three blocks is either a block or the complement of a block. Symmetric designs fulfilling this property have the nice property of having minimal rank, which makes them interesting to study. Thus, SDP designs become useful in coding theory applications. We show in this paper that difference sets formed by direct product construction of difference sets whose developments have the SDP also have the SDP. We also establish a few results regarding isomorphisms in product construc…
In this paper we introduce a switching for 2-designs. We illustrate this method by applying it to some symmetric (64,28,12) designs. In that way we obtain six new symmetric (64,28,12) designs. Further, we show that this type of switching can be applied to any symmetric design related to a Bush-type Hadamard matrix.
A linked system of symmetric designs (LSSD) is a $w$-partite graph ($w\geq 2$) where the incidence between any two parts corresponds to a symmetric design and the designs arising from three parts are related. The original construction for LSSDs by Goethals used Kerdock sets, in which $v$ is a power of two. Some four decades later, new examples were given by Davis et.\ al.\ and Jedwab et.\ al.\ using difference sets, again with $v$ a power of two. In this paper we develop a connection between LSSDs and "linked simplices", full-dimensional regular simplices with two possible inner products betwe…
Let $\mathcal{D}=\left(\mathcal{P},\mathcal{B} \right)$ be a symmetric $2$-$(v,k,λ)$ design admitting a flag-transitive, point-imprimitive automorphism group $G$ that leaves invariant a non-trivial partition $Σ$ of $\mathcal{P}$. Praeger and Zhou \cite{PZ} have shown that, there is a constant $k_{0}$ such that, for each $B \in \mathcal{B}$ and $Δ\in Σ$, the size of $\left\vert B \cap Δ\right \vert$ is either $0$ or $k_{0}$. In the present paper we show that, if $k>λ\left(λ-3 \right)/2$ and $k_{0} \geq 3$, $\mathcal{D}$ is isomorphic to one of the known flag-transitive, point-imprimitive symmet…
A method for computing lower bounds on capacities of 2-dimensional constraints having a symmetric presentation in either the horizontal or the vertical direction is presented. The method is a generalization of the method of Calkin and Wilf (SIAM J. Discrete Math., 1998). Previous best lower bounds on capacities of certain constraints are improved using the method. It is also shown how this method, as well as their method for computing upper bounds on the capacity, can be applied to constraints which are not of finite-type. Additionally, capacities of 2 families of multi-dimensional constraints…
In this paper, we attach several new invariants to connected strongly regular graphs (excepting conference graphs on non-square number of vertices) : one invariant called the discriminant, and a p-adic invariant corresponding to each prime number p. We prove parametric restrictions on quasi-symmetric 2-designs with a given connected block graph $G$ and a given defect (absolute difference of the two intersection numbers) solely in terms of the defect and the parameters of $G$, including these new invariants. This is a natural analogue of Schutzenberger's Theorem and the Shrikhande-Chowla-Ryser …
A Metis design is one for which v=r+k+1. This paper deals with Metis designs that are quasi-residual. The parameters of such designs and the corresponding symmetric designs can be expressed by Fibonacci numbers. Although the question of existence seems intractable because of the size of the designs, the nonexistence of corresponding difference sets can be dealt with in a substantive way. We also recall some inequalities for the number of fixed points of an automorphism of a symmetric design and suggest possible connections to the designs that would be the symmetric extensions of Metis designs.
This paper studies flag-transitive point-primitive non-symmetric $2$-($v,k,2$) designs. We prove that if $\mathcal{D}$ is a non-trivial non-symmetric $2$-$(v,k,2)$ design admitting a flag-transitive point-primitive automorphism group $G$ with $Soc(G)=A_{n}$ for $n\geq5$, then $\mathcal{D}$ is a $2$-$(6,3,2)$ or $2$-$(10,4,2)$ design.
In this article, we study symmetric $(v, k, λ)$ designs admitting a flag-transitive and point-primitive automorphism group $G$ whose socle is a projective special unitary group of dimension at most five. We, in particular, determine all such possible parameters $(v, k, λ)$ and show that there exist eight non-isomorphic of such designs for which $λ\in\{3,6,12, 16, 18\}$ and $G$ is $PSU_{3}(3)$, $PSU_{3}(3):2$, $PSU_{4}(2)$ or $PSU_{4}(2):2$.
In this article, we investigate symmetric $(v,k,λ)$ designs $\mathcal{D}$ with $λ$ prime admitting flag-transitive and point-primitive automorphism groups $G$. We prove that if $G$ is an almost simple group with socle a finite simple group of Lie type, then $\mathcal{D}$ is either the point-hyperplane design of a projective space $\mathrm{PG}_{n-1}(q)$, or it is of parameters $(7,4,2)$, $(11,5,2)$, $(11,6,2)$ or $(45,12,3)$.
Let $\mathcal D$ be a nontrivial symmetric $(v,k,λ)$ design, and $G$ be a subgroup of the full automorphism group of $\mathcal D$. In this paper we prove that if $G$ acts flag-transitively, point-primitively on $\mathcal D$ and $Soc(G)= PSL(2,q)$, then D has parameters $(7, 3, 1)$, $(7, 4, 2)$, $(11, 5, 2)$, $(11, 6, 3)$ or $(15, 8, 4)$.
This paper determined all pairs $(\mathcal{D},G)$ where $\mathcal{D}$ is a non-symmetric 2-$(v,k,λ)$ design with $(r,λ)=1$ and $G$ is the almost simple flag-transitive automorphism group of $\mathcal{D}$ with an exceptional socle of Lie type. We prove that if $T\trianglelefteq G\leq Aut(T)$ where $T$ is an exceptional group of Lie type, then $T$ must be the Ree group or Suzuki group, and there are five classes of non-isomorphic designs $\mathcal{D}$.
Let $G$ be a flag-transitive automorphism group of a $(v,k,λ)$ symmetric design $\mathcal{D}$ with $k>λ(λ-2)$. O'Reilly Regueiro proved that if $G$ is point-imprimitive, then $\mathcal{D}$ has parameters $(v,k,λ)=(λ^2(λ+2),λ(λ+1),λ)$. In the present paper, we consider the case that $G$ is point-primitive. By applying the O'Nan-Scott Theorem, we prove that $G$ must be of affine type or almost simple type.
In the rendezvous problem, two parties with different labelings of the vertices of a complete graph are trying to meet at some vertex at the same time. It is well-known that if the parties have predetermined roles, then the strategy where one of them waits at one vertex, while the other visits all $n$ vertices in random order is optimal, taking at most $n$ steps and averaging about $n/2$. Anderson and Weber considered the symmetric rendezvous problem, where both parties must use the same randomized strategy. They analyzed strategies where the parties repeatedly play the optimal asymmetric stra…
For an arbitrary prime $p$ we prove that the proportion of entries divisible by $p$ in certain columns of the character table of the symmetric group $S_n$ tends to 1 as $n\to\infty$. This is done by finding lower bounds on the number of $k$-cores, for $k$ large enough with respect to $n$.
As a consequence of the classification of the finite simple groups, it has been possible in recent years to characterize Steiner t-designs, that is t-(v,k,1) designs, mainly for t = 2, admitting groups of automorphisms with sufficiently strong symmetry properties. However, despite the finite simple group classification, for Steiner t-designs with t > 2 most of these characterizations have remained longstanding challenging problems. Especially, the determination of all flag-transitive Steiner t-designs with 2 < t < 7 is of particular interest and has been open for about 40 years (cf. [11, p. 14…
In 2001, Davies, Gladwell, Leydold, and Stadler proved discrete nodal domain theorems for eigenfunctions of generalized Laplacians, i.e., symmetric matrices with non-positive off-diagonal entries. In this paper, we establish nodal domain theorems for arbitrary symmetric matrices by exploring the induced signed graph structure. Our concepts of nodal domains for any function on a signed graph are switching invariant. When the induced signed graph is balanced, our definitions and upper bound estimates reduce to existing results for generalized Laplacians. Our approach provides a more conceptual u…
We define a pseudo quasi-3 design as a symmetric design with the property that the derived and residual designs with respect to at least one block are quasi-symmetric. Quasi-symmetric designs can be used to construct optimal self complementary codes. In this article we give a construction of an infinite family of pseudo quasi-3 designs whose residual designs allow us to construct a family of codes with a new parameter set that meet the Grey Rankin bound.
