Lower bounds on the sizes of defining sets in full \(n\)-Latin squares and full designs (Q2413623)

An \((m,n,t)\)-balanced Latin rectangle is an \(m \times n\) array A with each entry containing a size \(t\) multi-subset of \(T = \{1,2, \ldots, t\}\) such that each element of \(T\) appears \(n\) times in each row and \(m\) times in each column of \(A\). This paper looks at minimum size of defining sets for \((m,n,t)\)-balanced Latin rectangles whose entries all equal \(T\). For \(n=m=t\), it is established that for large \(n\), the size of such a defining set is at least \(n^3(1-S)\) where S if a function of order \(n^{-0.5}\). A slightly more complicated asymptotic bound is also given for more general \(m\), \(n\), \(t\). Minimum sizes of defining sets are also considered for the \((v,k, \binom{v-2}{k-2})\) BIBD containing each size \(k\) subset of the point set once; here it is shown that for large \(v-k\), the size of such a defining set is at least \(\binom{v}{k} (1-S)\) where \(S\) is a function of order \((v-k)^{-0.5}\).