Related papers: Critical sets in the elementary abelian 2- and 3- …

A critical set in an $n \times n$ array is a set $C$ of given entries, such that there exists a unique extension of $C$ to an $n\times n$ Latin square and no proper subset of $C$ has this property. For a Latin square $L$, $\scs{L}$ denotes…

A critical set in an $n \times n$ Latin square is a minimal set of entries that uniquely identifies it among all Latin squares of the same size. It is conjectured by Nelder in 1979, and later independently by Mahmoodian, and Bate and van…

A critical set in an $n \times n$ array is a set $C$ of given entries, such that there exists a unique extension of $C$ to an $n\times n$ Latin square and no proper subset of $C$ has this property. The cardinality of the largest critical…

In this paper we determine a class of critical sets in the abelian {2--group} that may be obtained from a greedy algorithm. These new critical sets are all 2--critical (each entry intersects an intercalate, a trade of size 4) and completes…

In 1990, Kolesova, Lam and Thiel determined the 283,657 main classes of Latin squares of order 8. Using techniques to determine relevant Latin trades and integer programming, we examine representatives of each of these main classes and…

A critical set in an n x n array is a set C of given entries, such that there exists a unique extension of C to an n x n Latin square and no proper subset of C has this property. The cardinality of the largest critical set in any Latin…

In this note we show that for each Latin square $L$ of order $n\geq 2$, there exists a Latin square $L'\neq L$ of order $n$ such that $L$ and $L'$ differ in at most $8\sqrt{n}$ cells. Equivalently, each Latin square of order $n$ contains a…

Let G be an additive, finite abelian group. The critical number $\mathsf{cr}(G)$ of $G$ is the smallest positive integer $\ell$ such that for every subset $S \subset G \setminus \{0\}$ with $|S| \ge \ell$ the following holds: Every element…

Tarnauceanu [Archiv der Mathematik, 102 (1), (2014), 11--14] gave a characterisation of elementary abelian $2$-groups in terms of their maximal sum-free sets. His theorem states that a finite group $G$ is an elementary abelian $2$-group if…

For a positive integer $h$ and a subset $A$ of a given finite abelian group, we let $hA$, $h \hat{\;} A$, and $h_{\pm}A$ denote the $h$-fold sumset, restricted sumset, and signed sumset of $A$, respectively. Here we review some of what is…

In this note, we study large deviations of the number $\mathbf{N}$ of intercalates ($2\times2$ combinatorial subsquares which are themselves Latin squares) in a random $n\times n$ Latin square. In particular, for constant $\delta>0$ we…

We prove several results about substructures in Latin squares. First, we explain how to adapt our recent work on high-girth Steiner triple systems to the setting of Latin squares, resolving a conjecture of Linial that there exist Latin…

A word is "crucial" with respect to a given set of "prohibited words" (or simply "prohibitions") if it avoids the prohibitions but it cannot be extended to the right by any letter of its alphabet without creating a prohibition. A "minimal…

For a finite abelian group $G$ and a positive integer $h$, the unrestricted (resp.~restricted) $h$-critical number $\chi(G,h)$ (resp.~$\chi \hat{\;}(G,h)$) of $G$ is defined to be the minimum value of $m$, if exists, for which the $h$-fold…

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…

This paper establishes a classification of the critical numbers for restricted sumsets in finite abelian groups, determining them exactly for even-order groups and bounding them for odd-order groups, while revealing a fundamental structural…

Let $G$ be a finite abelian group. The critical number ${\rm cr}(G)$ of $G$ is the least positive integer $\ell$ such that every subset $A\subseteq G\setminus\{0\}$ of cardinality at least $\ell$ spans $G$, i.e., every element of $G$ can be…

For a set $A$ of $k$ elements from an additive abelian group $G$ and a positive integer $r \leq k$, we consider the set of elements of $G$ that can be written as a sum of $h$ elements of $A$ with at least $r$ distinct elements. We denote…

In this paper, we continue the study of a left-distributive algebra of elementary embeddings from the collection of sets of rank less than lambda to itself, as well as related finite left-distributive algebras (which can be defined without…

We construct sequencings for many groups that are a semi-direct product of an odd-order abelian group and a cyclic group of odd prime order. It follows from these constructions that there is a group-based complete Latin square of order $n$…