Quasimultiples of projective and affine planes (Q1071304)

A block design \(S_{\lambda}(2,k;v)\) is a finite incidence structure with \(k>2\) points in each block and exactly \(\lambda\) blocks through any two points. A projective plane is an \(S_ 1(2,k;k^ 2-k+1)\) and an affine plane is an \(S_ 1(2,k;k^ 2)\). A quasimultiple of an \(S_{\lambda}(2,k;v)\) is an \(S_{s\lambda}(2,k;v)\) with \(s>1\), in case \(s=2\) it is called a quasidouble. The author constructs quasidoubles of projective and affine planes and gives lower bounds for the number of such quasidoubles, using partition numbers. In particular, if q is a prime power, there are at least \(O(q^ 4)\) nonisomorphic quasidoubles of both \(S_ 1(2,q+1;q^ 2+q+1)\) and \(S_ 1(2,q;q^ 2)\). This is obtained by elementary reasoning. Using advanced knowledge on partition numbers the author can show that \(O(q^ 4)\) can be replaced by exponential growth with q.