Translations of the squares in a finite field and an infinite family of 3-designs (Q1395009)

The main result of this paper is a construction of a new infinite family of 3-\((q+1,(q-3)/2,\lambda) \) designs with \(q = p^e \) being an odd prime power congruent to \(-1\) modulo \(4\) satisfying the additional property that \(2\) is not a square in the finite field \( F_q \). The point sets of these designs are the projective lines \( F_q \cup \{ \infty \} \), and the blocks are the images \( \overline{V}^G\) of the complement of the set \( V = \{ \infty \} \cup (Q \Delta (Q+1) \Delta (Q-1)) \) under the action of the special linear fractional group \(G\) on \( F_q \cup \{ \infty \} \) (with \(Q\) denoting the set of non-zero squares in \(F_q\), and \(\Delta\) denoting the symmetric difference of sets). In addition, the setwise stabilizers of the sets \(\overline{V}\) in \(G\) are determined, as well as several other (numerical) parameters of the designs. The proofs rely on clever use of classical results on non-zero squares in finite fields and the structure of the special linear fractional groups (with a little bit of character theory). The results are a refinement of similar constructions of designs based on symmetric differences of just two translation sets of the set \(Q\) developed in [\textit{S. Iwasaki}, J. Math. Soc. Japan 40, 393-414 (1988; Zbl 0734.05017)].