Nesting partial Steiner triple systems with 2-regular leave graphs (Q1210560)

A partial Steiner triple system with leave graph \(H\) and order \(n\) is defined to be a pair \((V,T)\), where \(V\) is the vertext set of the complete graph \(K_ n\), and \(T\) is a set of triangles which partition the edges in the graph \(K_ n\backslash H\); that is, partition \(E(K_ n\backslash H)\). A nesting of such a system is a function \(\alpha: T\to V\) such that the set of stars \(K_{1,3}\) on the vertex set \(\alpha(t)\cup t\), \(t\in T\) partitions \(E(K_ n\backslash H)\); \(\alpha(t)\) is the center of the star. The central result proved by the authors is that for any 2-regular graph \(H\) of order \((6t+3)p\) with all cycle lengths divisible by \(p\), if there exists a nested partial triple system of order \(3p\) in which the leave graph consists of 3 \(p\)-cycles (\(p\) odd, \(p>3\)), then there exists a nested partial triple system of order \((6t+3)p\), \(t\geq 3\), with leave graph \(H\). If \(p=3\), skew Room squares are utilized to prove that if \(H\) is a 2-factor on \(6t+3\) vertices with all cycle lengths divisible by 3, then for all \(t\geq 3\) there exists a nested partial triple system of order \(6t+3\) with leave graph \(H\). This generalizes a result by \textit{C. C. Lindner} and \textit{C. A. Rodger} [Ars Comb. 23, 75-79 (1987; Zbl 0621.05006)]. The authors also establish some results regarding the existence of nested partial triple systems with leave graph consisting of 3 \(p\)-cycles. They remark that a `cyclic' nested partial triple system of order 15 with leave graph consisting of three 5-cycles does not exist.