Non-symmetric nearly triply regular designs (Q1916394)

The concept of nearly triply regular (NTR) designs is extended to non-symmetric designs. Consider a set \(P\) with \(v\) elements (called treatments), and let \(B\) denote a set of \(k\)-element subsets of \(P\), called blocks. If every \(t\)-element subset of \(P\) is contained in exactly \(\lambda\) blocks, then \((P, B)= D\) is called a \(t\)-design (denoted by \(t\)-\((v, k, \lambda)\)). \(D\) is called symmetric if it has exactly \(v\) blocks, otherwise it is called non-symmetric. Consider a non-symmetric \(2\)-\((v, k, \lambda)\) design \(D\). \(D\) is called nearly triply regular design if there exist positive integers \(\mu\), \(v_1\) and \(v_2\) with \(v_1> v_2\) such that (i) \(|\alpha\cap \beta|= 0\) or \(\mu\) and (ii) \(|\alpha\cap \beta\cap \gamma|= 0\), \(v_1\), or \(v_2\), where \(\alpha\), \(\beta\), \(\gamma\) are distinct blocks of \(D\). \(D\) is said to be triply regular (TR) if these conditions hold with \(v_1= v_2= v\). The primary purpose of this paper is to investigate some properties of non-symmetric NTR designs. Next, we state the main result of this paper: Consider a non-symmetric NTR \(2\)-\((q^3, q^2, q+ 1)\) design \(D\) with \(v_2= 1\), and \(\mu= v_1= q> 2\). Then \(D\) is the design of points and planes of the affine geometry \(\text{AG}(3, q)\).