Embedding path designs into kite systems (Q2566141)

A kite is a graph on four vertices consisting of a triangle with an attached edge. A kite design of order \(n\) is a decomposition of the edge-set of the complete graph \(K_n\) on \(n\) vertices into kites. \textit{J. C. Bermond} and \textit{J. Schönheim} [Discrete Math.\ 19, 113--120 (1977; Zbl 0376.05016)] proved that a kite design of order \(n\) exists if and only if \(n \equiv 0\) or \(1 \pmod{8}\). A path design of order \(v\) and block size 3, denoted by \(P(v,3,1)\) is a decomposition of the edge-set of \(K_v\) into simple paths of length 2, that is, simple paths with three vertices and two edges. An embedding of a \(P(v,3,1)\) in a kite design, whose vertex set strictly contains the vertex set of the \(P(v,3,1)\), is an injection \(f\) from the set of paths of the \(P(v,3,1)\) into the set of kites of the kite design, such that, for each path \(B\) of the \(P(v,3,1)\), \(B\) is an induced subgraph of \(f(B)\). For each \(n \equiv 0\) or \(1 \pmod{8}\), the authors determine the set of all integers \(v\) for which there is a non-trivial \(P(v,3,1)\) embedded in a kite design of order \(n\).