English

Some results on the Ryser design conjecture-II

Combinatorics 2019-09-16 v3

Abstract

A Ryser design D\mathcal{D} on vv points is a collection of vv proper subsets (called blocks) of a point-set with vv points satisfying (i) every two blocks intersect each other in λ\lambda points for a fixed λ<v\lambda < v (ii) there are at least two block sizes. A design D\mathcal{D} is called a symmetric design, if all the blocks of D\mathcal{D} have the same size (or equivalently, every point has the same replication number) and every two blocks intersect each other in λ\lambda points. The only known construction of a Ryser design is via block complementation of a symmetric design also known as the Ryser-Woodall complementation method. Such a Ryser design is called a Ryser design of Type-1. The Ryser-Woodall conjecture states: "every Ryser design is of Type-1". Main results of the present article are the following. An expression for the inverse of the incidence matrix A\mathsf{A} of a Ryser design is obtained. A necessary condition for the design to be of Type-1 is obtained. A well known conjecture states that, for a Ryser design on \textit{v} points \mbox4λ1vλ2+λ+1\mbox{ }4\lambda-1\leq v\leq\lambda^2+\lambda+1. A partial support for this conjecture is obtained. Finally a special case of Ryser designs with two block sizes is shown to be of Type-1.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1909.03504,
  title  = {Some results on the Ryser design conjecture-II},
  author = {Tushar D. Parulekar and Sharad S. Sane},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1909.03504},
  year   = {2019}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-23T11:09:01.662Z