Related papers: On flag-transitive automorphism groups of $2$-desi…
Among the properties of homogeneity of incidence structures flag-transitivity obviously is a particularly important and natural one. Consequently, in the last decades also flag-transitive Steiner tdesigns (i.e. flag-transitive t-(v,k,1)…
Let $q$ be a prime power and $V\cong{\mathbb F}_q^n$. A $t$-$(n,k,\lambda)_q$ design, or simply a subspace design, is a pair ${\mathcal D}=(V,{\mathcal B})$, where ${\mathcal B}$ is a subset of the set of all $k$-dimensional subspaces of…
The investigation of s-arc-transitivity of digraphs can be dated back to 1989 when the third author showed that s can be arbitrarily large if the action on vertices is imprimitive. However, the situation is completely different when the…
Given an integer $k\ge3$ and a group $G$ of odd order, if there exists a $2$-$(v,k,1)$-design and if $v$ is sufficiently large, then there is such a design whose automorphism group has a subgroup isomorphic to $G$. A weaker result is proved…
This paper deals with block-transitive $t$-$(v,k,\lambda)$ designs in affine spaces for large $t$, with a focus on the important index $\lambda=1$ case. We prove that there are no non-trivial 5-$(v,k,1)$ designs admitting a block-transitive…
A digraph is $s$-arc-transitive if its automorphism group is transitive on directed paths with $s$ edges, that is, on $s$-arcs. Although infinite families of finite $s$-arc transitive digraphs of arbitrary valency were constructed by the…
A new infinite family of bipartite cubic 3-arc transitive graphs is constructed and studied. They provide the first known examples admitting a 2-arc transitive vertex-biquasiprimitive group of automorphisms for which the index two subgroup…
The classification of flag-transitive generalised quadrangles is a long-standing open problem at the interface of finite geometry and permutation group theory. Given that all known flag-transitive generalised quadrangles are also…
In this paper, we examine the structure of vertex- and edge-transitive strongly regular graphs, using normal quotient reduction. We show that the irreducible graphs in this family have quasiprimitive automorphism groups, and prove (using…
A graph $\Gamma$ is called $G$-symmetric if it admits $G$ as a group of automorphisms acting transitively on the set of ordered pairs of adjacent vertices. We give a classification of $G$-symmetric graphs $\Gamma$ with $V(\Gamma)$ admitting…
A $3$-$(v,\{4,6\},1)$ design is a configuration of $v$ points and a collection of $4$- and $6$-element subsets called blocks, that jointly contain every 3-element subset exactly once. Using an exhaustive computer search on $v\leq 28$ points…
In this paper, we construct new families of flag-transitive linear spaces with $q^{2n}$ points and $q^{2}$ points on each line that admit a one-dimensional affine automorphism group. We achieve this by building a natural connection with…
A Steiner quadruple system of order v is a 3-(v,4,1) design, and will be denoted SQS(v). Using the classification of finite 2-transitive permutation groups all SQS(v) with a flag-transitive automorphism group are completely classified, thus…
This paper begins the classification of all edge-primitive 3-arc-transitive graphs by classifying all such graphs where the automorphism group is an almost simple group with socle an alternating or sporadic group, and all such graphs where…
Let $G$ be a transitive permutation group of degree $n$. We say that $G$ is $2'$-elusive if $n$ is divisible by an odd prime, but $G$ does not contain a derangement of odd prime order. In this paper we study the structure of quasiprimitive…
Ostrom and Wagner (1959) proved that if the automorphism group $G$ of a finite projective plane $\pi$ acts $2$-transitively on the points of $\pi$, then $\pi$ is isomorphic to the Desarguesian projective plane and $G$ is isomorphic to…
This paper is a further contribution to the classification of line-transitive finite linear spaces. We prove that if S is a non-trivial finite linear space with the Fang-Li parameter gcd(k,r) is 9 or 10, the automorphism group G of S is…
Let $\mathcal{D}=(\mathcal{P},\mathcal{B})$ be a non-trivial block-transitive $t$-$(k^2,k,\lambda)$ design with $G\leq \Aut(\mathcal{D})$ and $X\unlhd G\leq \Aut(X)$, where $X=PSL(n,q)(n\geq3).$ We prove that $t=2$ and the parameters…
A graph is edge-primitive if its automorphism group acts primitively on the edge set. In this short paper, we prove that a finite 2-arc-transitive edge-primitive graph has almost simple automorphism group if it is neither a cycle nor a…
We determine all factorisations $X=AB$, where $X$ is a finite almost simple group and $A,B$ are core-free subgroups such that $A\cap B$ is cyclic or dihedral. As a main application, we classify the graphs $\Gamma$ admitting an almost simple…