The rank of a latin square associated to an abelian group (Q4947071)

Consider a finite abelian group \(G\simeq \mathbb{Z}_2\times \mathbb{Z}_2\times \prod^r_{i=1} \mathbb{Z}_{p^{t_i}_i}\), where \(p_i\), for \(1\leq i\leq r\), are not necessarily distinct odd primes. Let \(x= \sum_{g\in G} x_gg\in \mathbb{Z}[G]\) with \(\{x_g: g\in G\}= \{1,\dots,|G|\}\). Let \(G^*\) be the group of characters from \(G\) to \(\mathbb{C}^\times\). Then, using a result of \textit{L. Carlitz} and \textit{L. Moser} [Can. Math. Bull. 9, 421-426 (1966; Zbl 0145.04804)] on the factorization of cyclotomic polynomials into c-irreducible factors, the authors show that \(|\{\chi\in G^*:\chi(x)\neq 0\}|\geq 3+ \sum^r_{i= 1}\phi(p^{t_i}_i)\), where \(\phi\) is the Euler phi function. They then establish that the rank of any Latin square associated with \(G\) is at least \(3+ \sum^r_{i= 1}\phi(p^{t_i}_i)\).