On the volumes and affine types of trades (Q2290357)

Summary: A \([t]\)-trade is a pair \(T=(T_+, T_-)\) of disjoint collections of subsets (blocks) of a \(v\)-set \(V\) such that for every \(0\le i\le t\), any \(i\)-subset of \(V\) is included in the same number of blocks of \(T_+\) and of \(T_-\). It follows that \(|T_+| = |T_-|\) and this common value is called the volume of \(T\). If we restrict all the blocks to have the same size, we obtain the classical \(t\)-trades as a special case of \([t]\)-trades. It is known that the minimum volume of a nonempty \([t]\)-trade is \(2^t\). Simple \([t]\)-trades (i.e., those with no repeated blocks) correspond to a Boolean function of degree at most \(v-t-1\). From the characterization of \textit{T. Kasami} and \textit{N. Tokura} [IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory 16, 752--759 (1970; Zbl 0205.20604)] of such functions with small number of ones, it is known that any simple \([t]\)-trade of volume at most \(2\cdot2^t\) belongs to one of two affine types, called Type (A) and Type (B) where Type (A) \([t]\)-trades are known to exist. By considering the affine rank, we prove that \([t]\)-trades of Type (B) do not exist. Further, we derive the spectrum of volumes of simple trades up to \(2.5\cdot 2^t\), extending the known result for volumes less than \(2\cdot 2^t\). We also give a characterization of ``small'' \([t]\)-trades for \(t=1,2\). Finally, an algorithm to produce \([t]\)-trades for specified \(t, v\) is given. The result of the implementation of the algorithm for \(t\le 4\), \(v\le 7\) is reported.