Novák conjectured in 1974 that for any cyclic Steiner triple systems of order $v$ with $v\equiv 1\pmod{6}$, it is always possible to choose one block from each block orbit so that the chosen blocks are pairwise disjoint. We consider the generalization of this conjecture to cyclic $(v,k,λ)$-designs with $1 \leq λ\leq k-1$. Superimposing multiple copies of a cyclic symmetric design shows that the generalization cannot hold for all $v$, but we conjecture that it holds whenever $v$ is sufficiently large compared to $k$. We confirm that the generalization of the conjecture holds when $v$ is prime and $λ=1$ and also when $λ\leq (k-1)/2$ and $v$ is sufficiently large compared to $k$. As a corollary, we show that for any $k \geq 3$, with the possible exception of finitely many composite orders $v$, every cyclic $(v,k,1)$-design without short orbits is generated by a $(v,k,1)$-disjoint difference family.
We show that for any n divisible by 3, almost all order-n Steiner triple systems admit a decomposition of almost all their triples into disjoint perfect matchings (that is, almost all Steiner triple systems are almost resolvable).
We introduce an operation of a kind of product which associates with a partial Steiner triple system another partial Steiner triple system, the starting one being a quotient of the result. We discuss relations of our product to some other product-like constructions and prove some preservation/non-preservation theorems. In particular, we show series of anti-Pasch Steiner triple systems which are obtained that way.
It was proved in 2009 that any partial Steiner triple system of order $u$ has an embedding of order $v$ for each admissible integer $v\geq 2u+1$. This result is best-possible in the sense that, for each $u\geq 9$, there exists a partial Steiner triple system of order $u$ that does not have an embedding of order $v$ for any $v<2u+1$. Many partial Steiner triple systems do have embeddings of orders smaller than $2u+1$, but little has been proved about when these embeddings exist. In this paper we construct embeddings of orders less than $2u+1$ for partial Steiner triple systems with few triples.…
In this article we construct uncountably many new homogeneous locally finite Steiner triple systems of countably infinite order as Fra\"ıssé limits of classes of finite Steiner triple systems avoiding certain subsystems. The construction relies on a new embedding result: any finite partial Steiner triple system has an embedding into a finite Steiner triple system that contains no nontrivial proper subsystems that are not subsystems of the original partial system. Fra\"ıssé's construction and its variants are rich sources of examples that are central to model-theoretic classification theory, an…
A partial Steiner triple system of order n is sequenceable if there is a sequence of length n of its distinct points such that no proper segment of the sequence is a union of point-disjoint blocks. We prove that if a partial Steiner triple system has at most three point-disjoint blocks, then it is sequenceable.
We show that for any n divisible by 3, almost all order-n Steiner triple systems have a perfect matching (also known as a parallel class or resolution class). In fact, we prove a general upper bound on the number of perfect matchings in a Steiner triple system and show that almost all Steiner triple systems essentially attain this maximum. We accomplish this via a general theorem comparing a uniformly random Steiner triple system to the outcome of the triangle removal process, which we hope will be useful for other problems. Our methods can also be adapted to other types of designs; for exampl…
It is proved that for any prescribed orientation of the triples of either a Steiner triple system or a Latin square of odd order, there exists an embedding in an orientable surface with the triples forming triangular faces and one extra large face.
The intersection of two Steiner triple systems (X,A) and (X,B) is the set A intersect B. The fine intersection problem for Steiner triple systems is to determine for each v, the set I(v), consisting of all possible pairs (m,n) such that there exist two Steiner triple systems of order v whose intersection has n blocks over m points. We show that for v = 1 or 3 (mod 6), |I(v)| = Omega(v^3), where previous results only imply that |I(v)| = Omega(v^2).
We address several extremal problems concerning the spreading property of point sets of Steiner triple systems. This property is closely related to the structure of subsystems, as a set is spreading if and only if there is no proper subsystem which contains it. We give sharp upper bounds on the size of a minimal spreading set in a Steiner triple system and show that if all the minimal spreading sets are large then the examined triple system must be a projective space. We also show that the size of a minimal spreading set is not an invariant of a Steiner triple system.
Every Steiner triple system is a uniform hypergraph. The coloring of hypergraph and its special case Steiner triple systems, {STS}$(v)$, is studied extensively. But the defining set of the coloring of hypergraph even its special case {STS}$(v)$, is not explored yet. We study minimum defining set and the largest minimal defining set for $3$-coloring of {STS}$(v)$. We determined minimum defining set and the largest minimal defining set, for all non-isomorphic {STS}$(v)$, $v\le 15$. Also we have found the {\sf defining number} for all Steiner triple systems of order $v$, and some lower bounds for…
A partial Steiner triple system of order $u$ is a pair $(U,\mathcal{A})$ where $U$ is a set of $u$ elements and $\mathcal{A}$ is a set of triples of elements of $U$ such that any two elements of $U$ occur together in at most one triple. If each pair of elements occur together in exactly one triple it is a Steiner triple system. An embedding of a partial Steiner triple system $(U,\mathcal{A})$ is a (complete) Steiner triple system $(V,\mathcal{B})$ such that $U \subseteq V$ and $\mathcal{A} \subseteq \mathcal{B}$. For a given partial Steiner triple system of order $u$ it is known that an embedd…
If $G$ is a finite group then there is an integer $M_G$ such that$,$ for $u\ge M_G$ and $u\equiv 1$ or $3$ (mod 6), there is a Steiner triple system $U$ on $u$ points for which ${\rm Aut} U \cong G. \ $ If $V$ is a Steiner triple system then there is an integer $N_V$ such that$,$ for $u\ge N_V$ and $u\equiv 1$ or $3$ $($mod $6),$ there is a Steiner triple system $U$ on $u$ points having $V$ as an ${\rm Aut} U$-invariant subsystem such that ${\rm Aut} U\cong{\rm Aut} V $ and ${\rm Aut} U $ induces ${\rm Aut} V$ on $V$.
In the paper we study the structure of hyperplanes of so called binomial partial Steiner triple systems (BSTS's, in short) i.e. of configurations with $\binom{n}{2}$ points and $\binom{n}{3}$ lines, each line of the size $3$. Consequently, a BSTS has $n-2$ lines through each of its points.
Steiner triple systems form one of the most studied classes of combinatorial designs. Configurations, including subsystems, play a central role in the investigation of Steiner triple systems. With sporadic instances of small systems, ad-hoc algorithms for counting or listing configurations are typically fast enough for practical needs, but with many systems or large systems, the relevance of computational complexity and algorithms of low complexity is highlighted. General theoretical results as well as specific practical algorithms for important configurations are presented.
The $p$-rank of a Steiner triple system $B$ is the dimension of the linear span of the set of characteristic vectors of blocks of $B$, over GF$(p)$. We derive a formula for the number of different Steiner triple systems of order $v$ and given $2$-rank $r_2$, $r_2<v$, and a formula for the number of Steiner triple systems of order $v$ and given $3$-rank $r_3$, $r_3<v-1$. Also, we prove that there are no Steiner triple systems of $2$-rank smaller than $v$ and, at the same time, $3$-rank smaller than $v-1$. Our results extend previous work on enumerating Steiner triple systems according to the ra…
We prove that with high probability $\mathbb{G}^{(3)}(n,n^{-1+o(1)})$ contains a spanning Steiner triple system for $n\equiv 1,3\pmod{6}$, establishing the exponent for the threshold probability for existence of a Steiner triple system. We also prove the analogous theorem for Latin squares. Our result follows from a novel bootstrapping scheme that utilizes iterative absorption as well as the connection between thresholds and fractional expectation-thresholds established by Frankston, Kahn, Narayanan, and Park.
A partial Steiner triple system is is $sequenceable$ if the points can be sequenced so that no proper segment can be partitioned into blocks. We show that, if $0 \leq a \leq (n-1)/3$, then there exists a nonsequenceable PSTS$(n)$ of size $\frac{1}{3}\binom{n}{2}-a$, for all $n \equiv 1 \pmod{6}$ except for $n=7$.
An l-good sequencing of a Steiner triple system of order v, STS(v), is a permutation of the points of the system such that no l consecutive points in the permutation contains a block. It is known that every STS(v) with v > 3 has a 3-good sequencing. It is proved that every STS(v) with v >= 13 has a 4-good sequencing and every 3-chromatic STS(v) with v >= 15 has a 5-good sequencing. Computational results for Steiner triple systems of small order are also given.
In this paper we are interested in the following question: Given an arbitrary Steiner triple system $S$ on $m$ vertices and any 3-uniform hypertree $T$ on $n$ vertices, is it necessary that $S$ contains $T$ as a subgraph provided $m \geq (1+μ)n$? We show the answer is positive for a class of hypertrees and conjecture that the answer is always positive.
Hypertrees are linear hypergraphs where every two vertices are connected by a unique path. Elliott and Rödl conjectured that for any given $μ>0$, there exists $n_0$ such that the following holds. Every $n$-vertex Steiner triple system contains all hypertrees with at most $(1-μ)n$ vertices whenever $n\geq n_0$. We prove this conjecture.
In this paper, we study the problem of finding the largest possible set of s points and s blocks in a Steiner triple system of order v, such that that none of the s points lie on any of the s blocks. We prove that s \leq (2v+5 - \sqrt{24v+25})/2. We also show that equality can be attained in this bound for infinitely many values of v.
The smallest open case for classifying Steiner triple systems is order 21. A Steiner triple system of order 21, an STS(21), can have subsystems of orders 7 and 9, and it is known that there are 12,661,527,336 isomorphism classes of STS(21)s with sub-STS(9)s. Here, the classification of STS(21)s with subsystems is completed by settling the case of STS(21)s with sub-STS(7)s. There are 116,635,963,205,551 isomorphism classes of such systems. An estimation of the number of isomorphism classes of STS(21)s is given.
A triple system is cancellative if it does not contain three distinct sets $A,B,C$ such that the symmetric difference of $A$ and $B$ is contained in $C$. We show that every cancellative triple system $\mathcal{H}$ that satisfies certain inequality between the sizes of $\mathcal{H}$ and its shadow must be structurally close to the balanced blowup of some Steiner triple system. Our result contains a stability theorem for cancellative triple systems due to Keevash and Mubayi as a special case. It also implies that the boundary of the feasible region of cancellative triple systems has infinitely m…
Given an STS(v), we ask if there is a permutation of the points of the design such that no $\ell$ consecutive points in this permutation contain a block of the design. Results are obtained in the cases $\ell = 3,4$.
Let STS(n) denote the number of Steiner triple systems on n vertices, and let F(n) denote the number of 1-factorizations of the complete graph on n vertices. We prove the following upper bound. STS(n) <= ((1 + o(1)) (n/e^2))^(n^2/6) F(n) <= ((1 + o(1)) (n/e^2))^(n^2/2) We conjecture that the bound is sharp. Our main tool is the entropy method.
We construct Steiner triple systems without parallel classes for an infinite number of orders congruent to $3 \pmod{6}$. The only previously known examples have order $15$ or $21$.
The Heawood graph is the point-block incidence graph of the Fano plane (the unique Steiner triple system of order 7). We show that the minimum semidefinite rank of this graph is 10. That is, 10 is the smallest number of complex dimensions in which this graph has a faithful orthogonal representation, i.e., an assignment of a vector to each vertex such that the edges occur between precisely those vertices given non-orthogonal pairs. Some of our techniques extend to the incidence graphs of Steiner triple systems of larger order, and we include some observations and questions about the more genera…
A famous theorem of Kirkman says that there exists a Steiner triple system of order $n$ if and only if $n\equiv 1,3\mod{6}$. In 1973, Erdős conjectured that one can find so-called `sparse' Steiner triple systems. Roughly speaking, the aim is to have at most $j-3$ triples on every set of $j$ points, which would be best possible. (Triple systems with this sparseness property are also referred to as having high girth.) We prove this conjecture asymptotically by analysing a natural generalization of the triangle removal process. Our result also solves a problem posed by Lefmann, Phelps and Rödl as…
A design is said to be $f$-pyramidal when it has an automorphism group which fixes $f$ points and acts sharply transitively on all the others. The problem of establishing the set of values of $v$ for which there exists an $f$-pyramidal Steiner triple system of order $v$ has been deeply investigated in the case $f=1$ but it remains open for a special class of values of $v$. The same problem for the next possible $f$, which is $f=3$, is here completely solved: there exists a $3$-pyramidal Steiner triple system of order $v$ if and only if $v\equiv7,9,15$ (mod $24$) or $v\equiv 3, 19$ (mod 48).
A number of applications of Steiner triple systems (e.g. disk erasure codes) exist that require a special ordering of its blocks. Universal cycles, introduced by Chung, Diaconis, and Graham in 1992, and Gray codes are examples of listing elements of a combinatorial family in a specific manner, and Godbole invented the following generalization of these in 2010. 1-overlap cycles require a set of strings to be ordered so that the last letter of one string is the first letter of the next. In this paper, we prove the existence of 1-overlap cycles for automorphism free Steiner triple systems of each…
It is conjectured that every Steiner triple system of order $v \neq 7$ has chromatic index at most $(v+3)/2$ when $v \equiv 3 \pmod{6}$ and at most $(v+5)/2$ when $v \equiv 1 \pmod{6}$. Herein, we construct a Steiner triple system of order $v$ with chromatic index at least $(v+3)/2$ for each integer $v \equiv 3 \pmod{6}$ such that $v \geq 15$, with four possible exceptions. We further show that the maximum number of disjoint parallel classes in the systems constructed is sublinear in $v$. Finally, we establish for each order $v \equiv 15 \pmod{18}$ that there are at least $v^{v^2(1/6+o(1))}$ n…
For an integer $ρ$ such that $1 \leq ρ\leq v/3$, define $β(ρ,v)$ to be the maximum number of blocks in any partial Steiner triple system on $v$ points in which the maximum partial parallel class has size $ρ$. We obtain lower bounds on $β(ρ,v)$ by giving explicit constructions, and upper bounds on $β(ρ,v)$ result from counting arguments. We show that $β(ρ,v) \in Θ(v)$ if $ρ$ is a constant, and $β(ρ,v) \in Θ(v^2)$ if $ρ= v/c$, where $c$ is a constant. When $ρ$ is a constant, our upper and lower bounds on $β(ρ,v)$ differ by a constant that depends on $ρ$. Finally, we apply our results on $β(ρ,v)$…
We initiate the study of extended bicolorings of Steiner triple systems (STS) which start with a $k$-bicoloring of an STS($v$) and end up with a $k$-bicoloring of an STS($2v+1$) obtained by a doubling construction, using only the original colors used in coloring the subsystem STS($v$). By producing many such extended bicolorings, we obtain several infinite classes of orders for which there exist STSs with different lower and upper chromatic number.
It is known that in any $r$-coloring of the edges of a complete $r$-uniform hypergraph, there exists a spanning monochromatic component. Given a Steiner triple system on $n$ vertices, what is the largest monochromatic component one can guarantee in an arbitrary 3-coloring of the edges? Gyárfás proved that $(2n+3)/3$ is an absolute lower bound and that this lower bound is best possible for infinitely many $n$. On the other hand, we prove that for almost all Steiner triple systems the lower bound is actually $(1-o(1))n$. We obtain this result as a consequence of a more general theorem which show…
We initiate the study of extended bicolorings of Steiner triple systems (STS) which start with a $k$-bicoloring of an STS($v$) and end up with a $k$-bicoloring of an STS($2v+1$) obtained by a doubling construction, using only the original colors used in coloring the subsystem STS($v$). By producing many such extended bicolorings, we obtain several infinite classes of orders for which there exist STSs with different lower and upper chromatic number.
Let $X$ be a $v$-set, $\B$ a set of 3-subsets (triples) of $X$, and $\B^+\cup\B^-$ a partition of $\B$ with $|\B^-|=s$. The pair $(X,\B)$ is called a simple signed Steiner triple system, denoted by ST$(v,s)$, if the number of occurrences of every 2-subset of $X$ in triples $B\in\B^+$ is one more than the number of occurrences in triples $B\in\B^-$. In this paper we prove that $\st(v,s)$ exists if and only if $v\equiv1,3\pmod6$, $v\ne7$, and $s\in\{0,1,...,s_v-6,s_v-4,s_v\}$, where $s_v=v(v-1)(v-3)/12$ and for $v=7$, $s\in\{0,2,3,5,6,8,14\}$.
We propose a new approach to studies on partial Steiner triple systems consisting in determining complete graphs contained in them. We establish the structure which complete graphs yield in a minimal PSTS that contains them. As a by-product we introduce the notion of a binomial PSTS as a configuration with parameters of a minimal PSTS with a complete subgraph. A representation of binomial PSTS with at least a given number of its maximal complete subgraphs is given in terms of systems of perspectives. Finally, we prove that for each admissible integer there is a binomial PSTS with this number o…
This article, showing that almost all objects in the title are asymmetric, is re-typed from a manuscript I wrote somewhere around 1980 (after the papers of Bang and Friedland on the permanent conjecture but before those of Egorychev and Falikman). I am not sure of the exact date. The manuscript had been lost, but surfaced among my papers recently. I am grateful to Laci Babai and Ian Wanless who have encouraged me to make this document public, and to Ian for spotting a couple of typos. In the section on Latin squares, Ian objects to my use of the term "cell"; this might be more reasonably calle…
In 2015, Archdeacon introduced the notion of Heffter arrays and showed the connection between Heffter arrays and biembedding m-cycle and an n-cycle systems on a surface. In this paper we exploit this connection and prove that for every n >= 3 there exists an orientable embedding of the complete graph on 6n+1 vertices with each edge on both a 3-cycle and an $n$-cycle. We also give an analogous (but partial) result for biembedding a 5-cycle system and an n-cycle system.
In this paper we make a partial progress on the following conjecture: for every $μ>0$ and large enough $n$, every Steiner triple system $S$ on at least $(1+μ)n$ vertices contains every hypertree $T$ on $n$ vertices. We prove that the conjecture holds if $T$ is a perfect $d$-ary hypertree.
In 1973 Erdos asked whether there are n-vertex partial Steiner triple systems with arbitrary high girth and quadratically many triples. (Here girth is defined as the smallest integer g \ge 4 for which some g-element vertex-set contains at least g-2 triples.) We answer this question, by showing existence of approximate Steiner triple systems with arbitrary high girth. More concretely, for any fixed \ell \ge 4 we show that a natural constrained random process typically produces a partial Steiner triple system with (1/6-o(1))n^2 triples and girth larger than \ell. The process iteratively adds ran…
Borel completeness of the class of countable Steiner triple systems
School of Mathematics\ University 24 South Section 1, First Ring Road\ , Sichuan 610065 China；School of Mathematics；Statistics\ Jiaotong University 3 Shangyuancun\ , Beijing 100044 China
We prove several structural properties of Steiner triple systems (STS) of order 3w+3 that include one or more transversal subdesigns TD(3,w). Using an exhaustive search, we find that there are 2004720 isomorphism classes of STS(21) including a subdesign TD(3,6), or, equivalently, a 6-by-6 latin square.
Let $G$ be a simple finite graph and $G'$ be a subgraph of $G$. A $G'$-design $(X,\cal B)$ of order $n$ is said to be embedded into a $G$-design $(X\cup U,\cal C)$ of order $n+u$, if there is an injective function $f:\cal B\rightarrow \cal C$ such that $B$ is a subgraph of $f(B)$ for every $B\in\cal B$. The function $f$ is called an embedding of $(X,\cal B)$ into $(X\cup U,\cal C)$. If $u$ attains the minimum possible value, then $f$ is a minimum embedding. Here, by means of König's Line Coloring Theorem and edge coloring properties a complete solution is given to the problem of determining a …
