On the nonexistence of semi-regular relative difference sets (Q2084986)

Let \(G\) be a group of size \(un\), and \(N\le G\), \(n=|N|\). A set \(D\subseteq G\), \(|D|=k\) is called \((u,n,k,\lambda)\) relative difference set (RDS) in \(G\) with respect to \(N\) if the expressions \(d_1 d_2^{-1}\) with different \(d_1,d_2\in D\) represent every element \(G\setminus N\) exactly \(\lambda\) times and represent no element of \(N\). If \(k=u\), then \(D\) is called semi-regular RDS. Further, let \(u = p^au^\prime\) with \(gcd(p,u^\prime) = 1\), where \(p\) is a prime number and \(u^\prime\) is a positive integer. Then \(p\) is called self-conjugate modulo \(u\) if there exists an integer \(j\) such that \(p^j \equiv-1 \pmod{u^\prime}\). A composite integer \(n\) is called self-conjugate modulo \(u\) if every prime divisor of \(n\) is self-conjugate modulo \(u\). In the paper, the authors obtain a series of nonexistence results on semi-regular RDS. Let us formulate just one result in this direction. Theorem. Let \(G\) be a group, \(N\le G\) be a subgroup and \(D\) be \((mn,n,mn,n)\) a semi-regular RDS. Suppose that \(q\) is a prime divisor of \(n\) and \(q^t||mn\). Then the following holds. \(1)\) Let \(p\) be any prime number \(p\neq q\), \(p|mn\) such that \(p\) is either self-conjugate modulo \(q\) for odd \(q\) or \(p\) is self-conjugate modulo \(q^t\) for \(q=2\). Suppose that \(p^b||mn\) for a certain \(b\). Then \(b\) is an even number. \(2)\) Let \(q_1,\dots, q_s\) be distinct primes as above. Suppose that \(q_i^{b_i}||mn\) for some \(b_i\), \(s=1,\dots,s\). Put \(A:= mn/(q^t q^{b_1}_1 \dots q^{b_s}_s)\). Then either \(A\) is a square or \(q\le A^2 +A+1\). Also, the authors consider in detail the case of abelian \(G\) and semi-regular RDS with parameters \((pn,n,pn,p)\) with a prime \(p\) for general primes and for \(p=2,3\).