Some \(E\)-optimal regular graph designs (Q1365330)

Balanced incomplete block designs (BIBDs) are known to be \(A\), \(D\), and \(E\)-optimal. This paper is concerned with the \(E\)-optimality of regular graph designs (RGD) which are incomplete block designs in which every pair of treatments appears in the same block \(\lambda\) or \(\lambda+1\) times. Let \((v,b,k)\) be a design in \(D(v,b,k)\) which refers to the class of incomplete block designs with \(v\) treatments, \(b\) blocks of \(k\) plots each. The symbol \(D^*(v,b,k)\) represents the subset of equireplicate designs---those in which each element of \(v\) appears a constant number of times. In this paper it is shown that the cyclic designs \((v,v,2)\) for \(v>6\) are \(E\)-optimal in \(D^*(v,v,2)\) but not in \(D(v,v,2)\). Also, it is shown that the cyclic designs \((v,v,v-2)\) for \(v\geq 5\) are \(E\)-optimal for the binary designs in \(D(v,v,v-2)\). Furthermore, new \(E\)-optimal designs in the set of RGD are obtained by adding BIBDs to the \(E\)-optimal RGD.