Orthogonal arrays and ordered designs (Q1361670)

A signed orthogonal array \(\text{SOA}(\lambda,t,k,v)\) is a function \(\mu:S^k\to\mathbb{Z}\), where \(S\) is a \(v\)-set and \(\mu(x_1,\dots,x_k)\) is called the multiplicity of \((x_1 ,\dots,x_k)\), such that, if \(\{i_1, \dots, i_t\}\) is a \(t\)-subset of \(\{1,\dots,k\}\) and \((y_1,\dots,y_t)\in S^t\), then the sum of the multiplicities of all \((x_1,\dots,x_k)\in S^k\) with \(x_{i_1}=y_1,\dots,x_{i_t}=y_t\) equals \(\lambda\). The authors give a short and direct construction of signed orthogonal arrays \(\text{SOA} (\lambda, t,k,v)\) for any set of parameters \(\lambda,t,k,v\), \(t\leq k\). They also construct a specific basis of the \(Z\)-module generated by any \(\text{SOA} (0,t,k, v)\). An ordered design \(\text{OD} (\lambda,t,k,v)\) is an array with \(k\) columns and entries in a \(v\)-set \(S\) such that every row contains \(k\) distinct elements of \(S\) and such that, if one runs \(t\) fingers down any \(t\) columns, one finds every ordered \(t\)-subset of \(S\) exactly \(\lambda\) times. (When considering arrays, we disregard the order of the rows.) A large set of disjoint \(\text{OD} (\lambda,t,k,v)\), or \(\text{LD}(\lambda,t,k,v)\), is a partition of the array containing every ordered \(k\)-subset of a given \(v\)-set \(S\) exactly once as a row, into \(\text{OD}(\lambda,t,k,v)\). The authors generalize a construction of \textit{S. Ajoodani-Namini} and \textit{G. B. Khosrovshahi} [Discrete Math. 135, No. 1-3, 29-37 (1994; Zbl 0816.05013)] for large sets of disjoint (ordinary) designs to large sets of disjoint ordered designs. They use this generalization combined with a construction of the reviewer, to prove that, for any \(t\) and \(v\), there exists an \(\text{LD} (\lambda,t,t+1,v)\) for some \(\lambda\leq \prod_{p\leq t}p^{\lfloor t/p\rfloor}\).