No label defined (Q4940040)

An \(n\)-configuration means here a collection of 3-element sets (lines) in which two different lines meet at most in one point, and which contains exactly \(n\) lines. An \(n\)-configuration is called constant if for any order \(v\) the configuration occurs the same number of times in every \(STS(v)\). The authors present 5 kinds of constant \(n\)-configurations (a star and its unions with additional lines), and conjecture that no other constant \(n\)-configurations exist. Let \(M\) be a set of \(m\)-configurations, with \(m\) ranging from \(1\) to \(n\). It can happen that the number of occurencies of an \(n\)-configuration in any \(STS(v)\) can be expressed as a linear combination with respect to occurencies of the configurations in \(M\) in such a way that the coefficients are polynomials in \(v\). Such a dependency naturally yields notions of the generating set and the basis. The main result of the paper states that any constant \(n\)-configuration together with all \(m\)-configurations, \(m\leq n\), that have all vertices of degree at least 2, form a generating set for all \(n\)-configurations. It is conjectured (and proved for \(n=6\)) that this generating set is minimal (i.e.~a basis).