No label defined (Q4352946)

Here we have a tutorial which leads the reader through the use of a BDX program [\textit{L. Thiel} and \textit{N. Fink}, BDX Reference Guide, Internal Report, Concordia University (1994)] to enumerate block designs with a prescribed structure. The example chosen to work with is that of all quasi-symmetric \(2\)-\((28,12,11)\) designs with block intersection numbers \(4\) and \(6\) which are fixed by an automorphism of order \(7\) with no fixed points or blocks. A separate program is first used to enumerate all \(9\) possible orbit matrices (or tactical decompositions). One of these is now selected as input for BDX to backtrack on. The search would not be feasible without the use of isomorph rejection and heuristic search techniques. The assumption of an automorphism of order 7 implies that the incidence matrix of the design can be partitioned into \(4\times 9\) blocks of \(7\times 7\) circulant matrices. Critical in the isomorph rejection exercise is the use of permutations that preserve both the orbit matrix and the circulant structure of the circulant matrices. In a very detailed way the author shows how this set of permutations (called the symmetry group) can be used to perform isomorph rejection. There is also a discussion of how the order of generation of the entries of \(A\) can influence the performance of the search. There are many options in BDX that allow the user to control the order of the search and the output generated. I recommend this paper as an excellent introduction to the use of smart techniques for the exhaustive enumeration of block designs. For the entire collection see [Zbl 0869.00029].