Minimal homogeneous Steiner 2-\((v,3)\) trades (Q2470439)

Let \(V\) be a set of cardinality \(v\). A \(d\)-homogeneous 2-\((v,3)\) trade, (triple trade, for short) is a pair \((T_1,T_2)\) where the \(T_i\), \(i = 1,2\), are disjoint sets of triples of elements from \(V\) chosen in such a way that each pair of elements from \(V\) occurs in \(d\) triples of each of \(T_1\) and of \(T_2\). The authors prove the existence of triple trades for each \(d \geq 3\) and \(v\) sufficiently large. The trades they construct are minimal in a well-defined sense. If \(v\) is a multiple of 3, the construction follows immediately from previous work of the authors [Discrete Math. 306, No. 17, 2047--2055 (2006; Zbl 1100.05009)]. In the other case, they first construct an explicit example of a minimal 3-homogeneous triple trade and then show how two such minimal figures can be glued together, under certain conditions, to yield the desired collection of triple trades.