Related papers: On determining when small embeddings of partial St…

In 1847, Kirkman proved that there exists a Steiner triple system on $n$ vertices (equivalently a triangle decomposition of the edges of $K_n$) whenever $n$ satisfies the necessary divisibility conditions (namely $n\equiv 1,3 \mod 6$). In…

A {\em cross-free} set of size $m$ in a Steiner triple system $(V,{\cal{B}})$ is three pairwise disjoint $m$-element subsets $X_1,X_2,X_3\subset V$ such that no $B\in {\cal{B}}$ intersects all the three $X_i$-s. We conjecture that for every…

For each odd $m \geq 3$ we completely solve the problem of when an $m$-cycle system of order $u$ can be embedded in an $m$-cycle system of order $v$, barring a finite number of possible exceptions. In cases where $u$ is large compared to…

We introduce a uniform method of proof for the following results. For {\em each} of the following conditions, there are $2^{\aleph_0}$ families of Steiner systems, satisfying that condition: i) Theorem~2.2.4: (extending \cite{Chicoetal})…

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…

We prove that a 3-GDD of type $1^n k^1 \ell^1$, where $n= k \cdot \ell$, with minimum distance 3 exists for every $k$ and $\ell$ such that $n = k \ell$, $k = 1$ or $3~(mod ~ 6)$, and $\ell = 1$ or $3~(mod ~ 6)$. These designs are of the…

In this article we study extensions of Steiner triple systems by means of the associated Steiner loops. We recognize that the set of Veblen points of a Steiner triple system corresponds to the center of the Steiner loop. We investigate…

A set system is called union closed if for any two sets in the set system their union is also in the set system. Gilmer recently proved that in any union closed set system some element belongs to at least a $0.01$ fraction of sets, and…

The partition problem is a well-known basic NP-complete problem. We mainly consider the optimization version of it in this paper. The problem has been investigated from various perspectives for a long time and can be solved efficiently in…

We study the indexing systems that correspond to equivariant Steiner and linear isometries operads. When $G$ is a finite abelian group, we prove that a $G$-indexing system is realized by a Steiner operad if and only if it is generated by…

Whereas Steiner systems $S(2,k,v)$ with block length $k \le 5$ have large amount of examples and the existence is established for all admissible $v$, for $k\ge 6$ only few examples are known even for decided cases. In this paper the…

A $k$-star is a complete bipartite graph $K_{1,k}$. A partial $k$-star design of order $n$ is a pair $(V,\mathcal{A})$ where $V$ is a set of $n$ vertices and $\mathcal{A}$ is a set of edge-disjoint $k$-stars whose vertex sets are subsets of…

For an integer $\rho$ such that $1 \leq \rho \leq v/3$, define $\beta(\rho,v)$ 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 $\rho$. We obtain…

A Steiner Triple System ($STS$) of order $v$ is a hypergraph uniform of rank 3, with $v$ vertices and such that every 2-subset of vertices has degree 1. In this paper we give a construction, by difference method, of type $v\longrightarrow…

We present a criterion of local Normal Embedding of a semialgebraic (or definable in an o-minimal structure) contained in $R^n$ in terms orders of contact of arcs. Namely, we prove that a semialgebraic set is normally embedded at a point x…

A $3$-partition of an $n$-element set $V$ is a triple of pairwise disjoint nonempty subsets $X,Y,Z$ such that $V=X\cup Y\cup Z$. We determine the minimum size $\varphi_3(n)$ of a set $\mathcal{E}$ of triples such that for every 3-partition…

A Steiner structure $\dS = \dS_q[t,k,n]$ is a set of $k$-dimensional subspaces of $\F_q^n$ such that each $t$-dimensional subspace of $\F_q^n$ is contained in exactly one subspace of $\dS$. Steiner structures are the $q$-analogs of Steiner…

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 >=…

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…

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…