A new existence proof for large sets of disjoint Steiner triple systems (Q2575809)

\(\text{STS}(v)\), a Steiner triple system of order \(v\), consists of a set \(X\) with \(v\) elements and a collection of subsets of \(X\) (called blocks), each having 3 elements in it such that every pair of distinct elements of \(X\) is contained in one and only one block. \(\text{LSTS}(v)\), denoting a large set of disjoint \(\text{STS}(v)\), means a partition of all 3-subsets of \(X\) into \(v- 2\;\text{STS}(v)\). \textit{J.-X. Lu} [On large sets of disjoint Steiner triple systems. I--VI. J. Comb. Theory, Ser. A 35, 140--146, 147--155, and 156--182 (1983; Zbl 0514.05018, Zbl 0514.05019 and Zbl 0514.05020) and Ser. A 37, 136--163, 164--188, and 189--192 (1984; Zbl 0545.05014, Zbl 0545.05015 and Zbl 0557.05012)] and \textit{L. Teirlinck} [J. Comb. Theory, Ser. A 57, 302--305 (1991; Zbl 0742.05016)] established the following result: For any integer \(v\equiv 1,3\pmod 6\) with \(v> 7\), there exists a \(\text{LSTS}(v)\). The proof of the above result as presented by them is very tedious and complex. In this paper a new and alternative but a simple proof is presented which makes use of 3-wise balanced designs and partitionable candelabra systems.