Quasi-symmetric designs and the Smith normal form (Q1200312)

The authors prove necessary existence conditions for \(2-(v,k,\lambda)\)- designs under the assumption that all block intersection sizes are congruent mod \(p^ e\) to the same integer, where \(p\) is a prime and \(e\) is odd. The proof relies on some interesting properties, which the authors show, of the Smith normal form of the incidence matrix of the design. Many admissible parameters for quasi-symmetric designs are ruled out by these new results and, consequently, also the associated strongly regular graphs cannot exist. Some implications on the automorphism group of the considered designs are proven too. This paper should be read together with the paper by \textit{B. Bagchi} [ibid. 69-79 (1992; see the above review)] as both papers deal with the same topic and contain some common results proved by similar techniques.