Packings and coverings of \(\lambda K_{v}\) by \(k\)-circuits with one chord. (Q1428531)

A \(G\)-design is a decomposition of the graph \(\lambda K_v\) into copies of \(G\), a \((v,G,\lambda)\)-GD for short. Many types of combinatorial designs can be described in this setting; for example, Steiner triple systems are \((v,K_3,1)\)-GDs. Needless to say, \(G\)-designs do not exist for all sets of parameters, which motivates the introduction of \(G\)-packing designs and \(G\)-covering designs in the obvious way. For these two cases, one is usually interested in the packing number (resp.\ covering number) giving the largest (resp.\ smallest) number of copies of \(G\) in such a design. The authors (constructively) settle the packing and covering numbers for \[ G \in \{C_6^{(1)},C_6^{(2)},C_7^{(1)}, C_7^{(2)},C_8^{(1)}, C_8^{(2)}, C_8^{(3)}\}, \] where \(C_m^{(r)}\) is a cycle of length \(m\) with one chord and \(r\) vertices of the cycle between the endpoints of the chord.