A classification of flag-transitive block designs (Q2137063)

In this article, the authors investigate 2-(\(v, k, \lambda\)) designs with gcd(\(r, \lambda\)) = 1 admitting flag-transitive automorphism groups \(G\). It is proved that if \(G\) is an almost simple group, then such a design belongs to one of the eight infinite families of 2-designs or it is one of the eleven well-known examples and all these examples of designs are described. In particular, it is proved that if \(\mathcal{D}\) is a symmetric (\(v, k, \lambda\)) design with gcd(\(k, \lambda\)) = 1 admitting a flag-transitive automorphism group \(G\), then either \(G \leq\) A\(\Gamma L_{1}(q\)) for some odd prime power \(q\) or \(\mathcal{D}\) is the point-hyperplane design or the unique Hadamard design with parameters (11, 5, 2). The appendix presents some information about finite almost simple classical groups and their maximal subgroups.