Related papers: Denniston partial difference sets exist in the odd…
Denniston \cite{D1969} constructed partial difference sets (PDS) with parameters $(2^{3m}, (2^{m+r}-2^m+2^r)(2^m-1), 2^m-2^r+(2^{m+r}-2^m+2^r)(2^r-2), (2^{m+r}-2^m+2^r)(2^r-1))$ in elementary abelian groups of order $2^{3m}$ for all $m\geq…
We construct two-weight sets in PG$(3n-1,q)$, $n\geq2$ with the same weights as those that would arise from the blow-up of a maximal $q$-arc in PG$(2,q^n)$. The construction is of particular interest when $q$ is odd, as it is well known…
In a recent paper [M], Mathon gives a new construction of maximal arcs which generalizes the construction of Denniston. In relation to this construction, Mathon asks the question of determining the largest degree of a non-Denniston maximal…
In 1969 Denniston gave a construction of maximal arcs of degree d in Desarguesian projective planes of even order q, for all d dividing q. In 2002 Mathon gave a construction method generalizing the one of Denniston. We will give a new…
It is proved that for every $d\ge 2$ such that $d-1$ divides $q-1$, where $q$ is a power of 2, there exists a Denniston maximal arc $A$ of degree $d$ in $\PG(2,q)$, being invariant under a cyclic linear group that fixes one point of $A$ and…
Motivated by a connection between semi-regular relative difference sets and mutually unbiased bases, we study relative difference sets with parameters $(m,n,m,m/n)$ in groups of non-prime-power orders. Let $p$ be an odd prime. We prove that…
The subject of this paper are partial geometries $pg(s,t,\alpha)$ with parameters $s=d(d'-1), \ t=d'(d-1), \ \alpha=(d-1)(d'-1)$, $d, d' \ge 2$. In all known examples, $q=dd'$ is a power of 2 and the partial geometry arises from a maximal…
A $(v,k,\lambda, \mu)$-partial difference set (PDS) is a subset $D$ of a group $G$ such that $|G| = v$, $|D| = k$, and every nonidentity element $x$ of $G$ can be written in either $\lambda$ or $\mu$ different ways as a product $gh^{-1}$,…
The correspondence between perfect difference sets and transitive projective planes is well-known. We observe that all known dense (i.e., close to square-root size) Sidon subsets of abelian groups come from projective planes through a…
We give two new constructions of almost difference sets. The first is a generic construction of $(q^{2}(q+1),q(q^{2}-1),q(q^{2}-q-1),q^{2}-1)$ almost difference sets in certain groups of order $q^{2}(q+1)$ ($q$ is an odd prime power) having…
Partial difference sets (for short, PDSs) with parameters ($n^2$, $r(n-\epsilon)$, $\epsilon n+r^2-3\epsilon r$, $r^2-\epsilon r$) are called Latin square type (respectively negative Latin square type) PDSs if $\epsilon=1$ (respectively…
Perfect difference families (PDFs for short) are important both in theoretical and in applications. Perfect difference matrices (PDMs for short) and the equivalent structure had been extensively studied and used to construct perfect…
Let $\mathrm{PG}(k-1,q)$ be the $(k-1)$-dimensional projective space over the finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$. An arc in $\mathrm{PG}(k-1,q)$ is a set of points with the property that any $k$ of them span the entire space. The notion of…
For nearly a century, mathematicians have been developing techniques for constructing abelian automorphism groups of combinatorial objects, and, conversely, constructing combinatorial objects from abelian groups. While abelian groups are a…
The minimum weight of the code generated by the incidence matrix of points versus lines in a projective plane has been known for over 50 years. Surprisingly, finding the minimum weight of the dual code of projective planes of non-prime…
In this paper we prove that if there is a regular Paley type partial difference set in an Abelian group $G$ of order $v$, where $v=p_1^{2k_1}p_2^{2k_2}\cdots p_n^{2k_n}$, $n\ge 2$, $p_1$, $p_2$, $\cdots$, $p_n$ are distinct odd prime…
A maximal arc of degree k in a finite projective plane P of order q = ks is a set of (q-s+1)k points that meets every line of P in either k or 0 points. The collection of the nonempty intersections of a maximal arc with the lines of P is a…
A difference set is said to have classical parameters if $ (v,k, \lambda) = (\frac{q^d-1}{q-1}, \frac{q^{d-1}-1}{q-1}, \frac{q^{d-2}-1}{q-1}).$ The case $d=3$ corresponds to planar difference sets. We focus here on the family of abelian…
A $(v,k,\lambda, \mu)$-partial difference set (PDS) is a subset $D$ of size $k$ of a group $G$ of order $v$ such that every nonidentity element $g$ of $G$ can be expressed in either $\lambda$ or $\mu$ different ways as a product $xy^{-1}$,…
In this paper we prove that an abelian group contains $(2^{2m+1}(2^{m-1}+1), 2^m(2^m+1), 2^m)$-difference sets with $m\geqslant 3$ if and only if it contains an elementary abelian 2-group of order $2^{2m}$. Our proof shows that the method…