Sarvate-Beam designs: new existence results and large sets (Q2839746)

A \(t\)-SB\((v, k)\) design consists of a \(v\)-set \(V\) and a collection of \(k\)-subsets of \(V\) (called blocks) such that each \(t\)-subset of \(V\) occurs in a different number of blocks. A \(t\)-SB\((v, k)\) design is called strict if for each \(i\in\{1,2,\ldots,{v\choose t}\}\), there is exactly one subset which occurs in \(i\) blocks. In the paper under review, for any integer \(t\geq3\), a non-strict \(t\)-SB\((2t-1,2t-2)\) is constructed. Consequently, it is shown that a non-strict \(t\)-SB\((n,n-1)\) exists provided that \(n\geq2t-1\) and \(2\leq t\leq n-2\). In addition, large sets of \(t\)-SB\((v, k)\) are discussed and some examples are given.