Skip to main content
Log in

Maximal arcs and quasi-symmetric designs

  • Published:
Designs, Codes and Cryptography Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We show that the construction of quasi-symmetric designs with parameters 2-\((q^3, q^{2}(q-1)/2, q(q^3 -q^2 -2)/4)\) and block intersection numbers \(q^{2}(q-2)/4\) and \(q^{2}(q-1)/4\) (where \(q \ge 4\) is a power of 2) given by Blokhuis and Haemers (J Stat Plan Inference 95:117–119, 2001) leads to exponential numbers of such designs. For \(q=4\), there are already at least 28,844 isomorphism classes.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. We assume that the reader is familiar with the basic facts and terminology from Design Theory and Finite Geometry; see, for instance, [1, 5]. For the theory of quasi-symmetric designs, one may consult the monograph [13].

  2.  This result is essentially a special case of a more general construction due to Kantor [9]; we will discuss Kantor’s work at the end of this section.

References

  1. Beth T., Jungnickel D., Lenz H.: Design Theory, 2nd edn. Cambridge University Press, New York (1999).

  2. Blokhuis A., Haemers W.H.: An infinite family of quasi-symmetric designs. J. Stat. Plan. Inference 95, 117–119 (2001).

  3. de Resmini M.J., Ghinelli D., Jungnickel D.: Arcs and ovals from abelian groups. Des. Codes Cryptogr. 26, 213–228 (2002).

  4. Ghinelli D., Jungnickel D., Metsch K.: Remarks on polarity designs. Des. Codes Cryptogr. 72, 7–19 (2014).

  5. Hirschfeld J.W.P.: Projective Geometries over Finite Fields, 2nd edn. Oxford University Press, Oxford (1998).

  6. Jungnickel D., Tonchev V.D.: Exponential number of quasi-symmetric designs with the symmetric difference property. Des. Codes Cryptogr. 1, 247–253 (1991).

  7. Jungnickel D., Tonchev V.D.: On symmetric and quasi-symmetric designs with the symmetric difference property and their codes. J. Comb. Theory A 59, 40–50 (1992).

  8. Jungnickel D., Tonchev V.D.: Polarities, quasi-symmetric designs, and Hamada’s conjecture. Des. Codes Cryptogr. 51, 131–140 (2009).

  9. Kantor W.M.: Symplectic groups, symmetric designs and line ovals. J. Algebra 33, 43–58 (1975).

  10. Kantor W.M.: 2-Transitive symmetric designs. Graphs Comb. 1, 165–166 (1985).

  11. Rodrigues B.G., Tonchev V.D.: On quasi-symmetric 2-(64, 24, 46) designs derived from codes In: 4th International Castle Meeting, CIM Series in Mathematical Sciences, vol. 3, Portugal, September 15–18, 2014. Springer (2015, to appear).

  12. Shrikhande S.S., Raghavarao D.: A method of construction of incomplete block designs. Sankhyā A 25, 399–402 (1963).

  13. Shrikhande M.S., Sane S.S.: Quasi-symmetric Designs. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1991).

Download references

Acknowledgments

The second author wishes to thank the University of Augsburg, Germany, for the hospitality during his visit. He is also grateful for the support provided by a grant of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Research partially supported by a research grant of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and NSA Grant H98230-15-1-0042.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dieter Jungnickel.

Additional information

This is one of several papers published in Designs, Codes and Cryptography comprising the “Special Issue on Cryptography, Codes, Designs and Finite Fields: In Memory of Scott A. Vanstone”.

This paper is dedicated to the memory of our esteemed colleague and collaborator Scott A. Vanstone. In particular, the first author published 17 joint papers with Scott during the years from 1986 to 1999, who hosted him regularly at the University of Waterloo. He wishes to thank him not only for this fruitful research collaboration but even more for the close personal friendship which developed over the years.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Jungnickel, D., Tonchev, V.D. Maximal arcs and quasi-symmetric designs. Des. Codes Cryptogr. 77, 365–374 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10623-015-0065-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10623-015-0065-7

Keywords

Mathematics Subject Classification

Navigation