A new family of cyclic difference sets with Singer parameters in characteristic three (Q1866030)

For each odd \(d\) a new family of cyclic difference sets with the classical parameters \(((3^d-1)/2,(3^{d-1}-1)/2,(3^{d-2}-1)/2)\) is construed. The \(3\)-ranks of the obtained set are determined by a recursive formula immediately translated to a direct formula, and seems to be always larger than the \(3\)-ranks of other designs with the same parameters. The proof of the main theorem relies on Jacobi sums, but some ideas arise from Maschietti's interpretation of the Segre and Glynn studies on hyperovals (in characteristic two) working (and this is interesting) also in characteristic three.