Related papers: New lower bounds for $t$-coverings

In 1940 Fisher famously showed that if there exists a non-trivial $(v,k,\lambda)$-design then $\lambda(v-1) \geq k(k-1)$. Subsequently Bose gave an elegant alternative proof of Fisher's result. Here, we show that the idea behind Bose's…

A (v,k,t) covering design, or covering, is a family of k-subsets, called blocks, chosen from a v-set, such that each t-subset is contained in at least one of the blocks. The number of blocks is the covering's size}, and the minimum size of…

Given five positive integers $v, m,k,\lambda$ and $t$ where $v \geq k \geq t$ and $v \geq m \geq t,$ a $t$-$(v,k,m,\lambda)$ general covering design is a pair $(X,\mathcal{B})$ where $X$ is a set of $v$ elements (called points) and…

A $(v,k,t)$ {\em covering design}, or {\em covering}, is a family of $k$-subsets, called blocks, chosen from a $v$-set, such that each $t$-subset is contained in at least one of the blocks. The number of blocks is the covering's {\em size},…

A \emph{covering array} is an $N \times k$ array of elements from a $v$-ary alphabet such that every $N \times t$ subarray contains all $v^t$ tuples from the alphabet of size $t$ at least $\lambda$ times; this is denoted as $\CA_\lambda(N;…

Tight $2 s$-designs are the $2 s$-$(v, k, \lambda)$ designs whose sizes achieve the Fisher type lower bound ${v \choose s}$. Symmetric $2$-designs, the Witt $4$-$(23, 7, 1)$ design and the Witt $4$-$(23, 16, 52)$ design are tight designs.…

We introduce a new type of $n$-dimensional generalization of symmetric $(v,k,\lambda)$ block designs. We prove upper bounds on the dimension $n$ in terms of $v$ and $k$. We also define the corresponding concept of $n$-dimensional difference…

In 1987, Huw Davies proved that, for a flag-transitive point-imprimitive $2$-$(v,k,\lambda)$ design, both the block-size $k$ and the number $v$ of points are bounded by functions of $\lambda$, but he did not make these bounds explicit. In…

Bose proved the inequality $b\geq v+r-1$ for resolvable balanced incomplete block designs (RBIBDs) and Kageyama improved it for RBIBDs which are not affine resolvable. In this note we prove a new lower bound on the number of blocks $b$ that…

Inspired by the "generalized t-designs" defined by Cameron [P. J. Cameron, A generalisation of t-designs, Discrete Math. 309 (2009), 4835--4842], we define a new class of combinatorial designs which simultaneously provide a generalization…

A $t\text{-}(n,k,\lambda;q)$-design is a set of $k$-subspaces, called blocks, of an $n$-dimensional vector space $V$ over the finite field with $q$ elements such that each $t$-subspace is contained in exactly $\lambda$ blocks. A partition…

A $(v,k,\lambda)$-covering is a pair $(V, \mathcal{B})$, where $V$ is a $v$-set of points and $\mathcal{B}$ is a collection of $k$-subsets of $V$ (called blocks), such that every unordered pair of points in $V$ is contained in at least…

Covering arrays find important application in software and hardware interaction testing. For practical applications it is useful to determine or bound the minimum number of rows, CAN$(t,k,v)$, in a covering array for given values of the…

Nov\'{a}k 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…

A $2-(v,k,\lambda)$ directed design (or simply a $2-(v,k,\lambda)DD$) is super-simple if its underlying $2-(v,k,2\lambda)BIBD$ is super-simple, that is, any two blocks of the $BIBD$ intersect in at most two points. A $2-(v,k,\lambda)DD$ is…

For a set of permutations (patterns) $\Pi$ in $S_k$, consider the set of all permutations in $S_n$ that avoid all patterns in $\Pi$. An important problem in current algebraic combinatorics is to find pattern sets $\Pi$ such that the…

In this paper we present three different results dealing with the number of $(\leq k)$-facets of a set of points: 1. We give structural properties of sets in the plane that achieve the optimal lower bound $3\binom{k+2}{2}$ of $(\leq…

We establish the existence of simple designs with parameters $2$-$(55,10,4)$, $3$-$(20,5,4)$, $3$-$(21,7,30)$, $4$-$(15,5,2)$, $4$-$(16,8,45)$, $5$-$(16,7,10)$, and $5$-$(17,8,40)$, which have previously been unknown. For the corresponding…

A $t$-$(n,k,\lambda)$ design over $\F_q$ is a collection of $k$-dimensional subspaces of $\F_q^n$, called blocks, such that each $t$-dimensional subspace of $\F_q^n$ is contained in exactly $\lambda$ blocks. Such $t$-designs over $\F_q$ are…

In this article, we show the existence of large sets $\operatorname{LS}_2[3](2,k,v)$ for infinitely many values of $k$ and $v$. The exact condition is $v \geq 8$ and $0 \leq k \leq v$ such that for the remainders $\bar{v}$ and $\bar{k}$ of…