Related papers: An improved Recursive Construction for Disjoint St…

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 Steiner quadruple system (briefly $SQS(n)$) is a pair $(X,B)$ where $|X|=n$ and $B$ is a collection of 4-element blocks such that every 3-subset of $X$ is contained in exactly one member of $B$. Hanani \cite{Hanani} proved that the…

The extremal problems regarding the maximum possible size of intersecting families of various combinatorial objects have been extensively studied. In this paper, we investigate supersaturation extensions, which in this context ask for the…

A mixed Steiner system MS$(t,k,Q)$ is a set (code) $C$ of words of weight $k$ over an alphabet $Q$, where not all coordinates of a word have the same alphabet size, each word of weight $t$, over $Q$, has distance $k-t$ from exactly one…

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…

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, Erd\H{o}s conjectured that one can find so-called `sparse' Steiner triple systems. Roughly speaking, the…

An ordered matching of size $n$ is a graph on a linearly ordered vertex set $V$, $|V|=2n$, consisting of $n$ pairwise disjoint edges. There are three different ordered matchings of size two on $V=\{1,2,3,4\}$: an alignment…

We give estimates on the number of combinatorial designs, which prove (and generalise) a conjecture of Wilson from 1974 on the number of Steiner Triple Systems. This paper also serves as an expository treatment of our recently developed…

A set of arithmetical sequences $$ a_1\, (\bmod{ \,\, m_1}) \quad, \quad a_2 \, (\bmod{\,\, m_2}) \quad, \quad \dots \quad , \quad a_k \, (\bmod{\,\,m_k}) \quad \quad , $$ with $$ m_1 \leq m_2 \leq \dots \leq m_k \quad \quad , $$ is called…

The existence of Large sets of Kirkman Triple Systems (LKTS) is an old problem in combinatorics. Known results are very limited, and a lot of them are based on the works of Denniston \cite{MR0349416, MR0369086, MR535159, MR539718}. The only…

Steiner systems are a fascinating topic of combinatorics. The most studied Steiner systems are $S(2, 3, v)$ (Steiner triple systems), $S(3, 4, v)$ (Steiner quadruple systems), and $S(2, 4, v)$. There are a few infinite families of Steiner…

Steiner quadruple systems are set systems in which every triple is contained in a unique quadruple. It is will known that Steiner quadruple systems of order v, or SQS(v), exist if and only if v = 2, 4 mod 6. Universal cycles, introduced by…

The $\mathscr{P}$-position sets of some combinatorial games have special combinatorial structures. For example, the $\mathscr{P}$-position set of the hexad game, first investigated by Conway and Ryba, is the block set of the Steiner system…

In this paper we present a graph theoretic construction of Steiner quadruple systems (SQS) admitting abelian groups as point-regular automorphism groups. The resulting SQS has an extra property which we call A-reversibility, where A is the…

A family $\mathcal{F}\subset 2^G$ of subsets of an abelian group $G$ is a Sidon system if the sumsets $A+B$ with $A,B\in \mathcal{F}$ are pairwise distinct. Cilleruelo, Serra and the author previously proved that the maximum size $F_k(n)$…

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…

Let F be a set system on [n] with all sets having k elements and every pair of sets intersecting. The celebrated theorem of Erdos-Ko-Rado from 1961 says that any such system has size at most ${n-1 \choose k-1}$. A natural question, which…

We consider systems of recursively defined combinatorial structures. We give algorithms checking that these systems are well founded, computing generating series and providing numerical values. Our framework is an articulation of the…

Previous work showed that, for $\nu_2(n)$ the number of partitions of $n$ into exactly two part sizes, one has $\nu_2(16n + 14) \equiv 0 \pmod{4}$. The earlier proof required the technology of modular forms, and a combinatorial proof was…

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…