Upper bounds given by equitable partitions of a primitive association scheme (Q2493104)

Let \(X\) be a finite set. Suppose that \(G\) is a subset of \(X\times X\), with \(| G| \geq 3\), and that the pair \((X,G)\) is a primitive association scheme. A partition \(\pi\) of \(X\) is equitable if, for all \(C,D\in\pi\) and \(g\in G\), the cardinality of \(\{w\in X:(x,w)\in g\}\cap D\) is constant whenever \(x\in C\). The motivating example is the following: if the group \(H\) is transitive on \(\Omega\) and \(K\leq H\), then \(\mathsf{Orb}(K)\) is an equitable partition for the association scheme \((\Omega,\mathsf{Orb}_2(H))\). For a partition \(\pi\), set \[ \pi^*=\{C\in\pi:| C| >1\}\quad\text{ and\quad supp}(\pi)=\bigcup_{C\in\pi^*}C. \] In the paper under review, it is proved that if \(\pi\) is equitable for the association scheme \((X,G)\) and \(| \pi| <| X| \) then \[ | G| \leq | \text{supp}(\pi)| -| \pi^*| +1.\tag{\(*\)} \] Moreover, the equality holds in \((*)\) if and only if \(| X| =p\) a prime number and \(G=\mathsf{Orb}_2(D_p)\), with \(\pi\) given by the sets \(\{w\in X:(x,w)\in g\}\), \(g\in G\), or \(G=\mathsf{Orb}_2(C_p)\), with \(\pi=X\), where \(D_p\) is the dihedral group of degree \(p\) and \(C_p\) is the cyclic group of order \(p\). This is an association scheme generalization of well-known results on finite permutation groups; see section 3.3.6 in [\textit{J. D. Dixon} and \textit{B. Mortimer}, Permutation groups (Graduate Texts in Mathematics. 163. New York, NY: Springer-Verlag) (1996; Zbl 0951.20001)].