On the existence of perfect splitter sets (Q2291367)

Let \(q\) be a positive integer and \(k_{1},k_{2}\) be non-negative integers with \(0\leq k_{1}\leq k_{2}\). The set \(B\subset \mathbb{Z}_{q}\) of size \(n\) is called a \textsl{splitter set} (or a packing set) if all the sets \(\{ab\) \( (\mathrm{mod}q):a\in \lbrack -k_{1},k_{2}]\}\), \(b\in B\) have \(k_{1}+k_{2}\) nonzero elements, and they are disjoint. We denote such a splitter set by \( B[-k_{1},k_{2}](q)\). If a \(B[-k_{1},k_{2}](q)\) set of size \(n\) exists, it is called \textsl{ perfect} if \(n=\frac{q-1}{k_{1}+k_{2}}\). A perfect \(B[-k_{1},k_{2}](q)\) set is \textsl{nonsingular} if \(\gcd (q,k_{2}!)=1\). Otherwise, the set is called \textsl{singular}. If for any prime \(p|q\), there is some \(k\) with \(0<k\leq k_{2}\) such that \(p|k\), then the perfect \(B[-k_{1},k_{2}](q)\) set is called \textsl{purely} singular. Given integers \(k_{1},k_{2}\) with \(0\leq k_{1}<k_{2}\), the determination of all positive integers \(q\) for which there exists a perfect splitter \( B[-k_{1},k_{2}](q)\) set is a wide open question in general. In this paper, among other results, new necessary and sufficient conditions are obtained for an odd prime \(p\) such that there exists a nonsingular perfect \(B[-1,3](p) \) set. Theorem 4.4. Let \(p\) be an odd prime with \(p\equiv 5\) (\(\mathrm{mod} \) \(8\)), then there exists a perfect \(B[-1,3]^{\ast }(p)\)set for \(p\) if and only if \(6\) is a quartic residue modulo \(p\). All perfect \(B[-k_{1},k_{2}](2n)\) sets are determined, for any positive integers \(k_{1},k_{2}\) with \(k_{1}+k_{2}\geq 4\). Theorem 3.3. Let \(k_{1},k_{2},n\) be positive integers with \( k_{1}+k_{2}\geq 4\). Suppose there exists a purely singular perfect \( B[-k_{1},k_{2}](2n)\) set. Then \(2^{n}=k_{1}+k_{2}+\)1. It is also proven that there are infinitely many prime \(p\) such that there exists a perfect \(B[-1,3](p)\) set. A complete proof of Theorem 3.2 is also given. Theorem 3.2. Let \(k_{1},k_{2}\) be integers, \(1\leq k_{1}\leq k_{2}\) , \(k_{2}\geq 3\), \(n=k_{1}+k_{2}+1\). If \(n\) is not a prime, then there does not exist a perfect \(B[-k_{1},k_{2}](n^{2})\) set.