Spherical designs and generalized sum-free sets in abelian groups (Q5926309)

Spherical designs were introduced by Delsarte, Goethals and Seidel in 1977 [cf. \textit{P. Delsarte, J. M. Goethals} and \textit{J. J. Seidel}, Geom. Dedicata 6, 363-388 (1977; Zbl 0376.05015)]; here a finite set \(X\) of points on the sphere \(S^{d}\) is called a spherical \(t\)-design if for every polynomial \(f\) of degree \(t\) or less the average value of \(f\) over the whole sphere is equal to the arithmetic average over its values on \(X\); if this holds only for homogeneous polynomials of degree \(t\) then \(X\) is called a spherical design of index \(t\). In order to provide explicit constructions for spherical designs the author introduces the concept of \(t\)-free sets (generalizing that of sum-free sets and Sidon-sets) in abelian groups \((G,+)\): A set \(S\subseteq G\) is called \(t\)-free in \(G\) if for all non-negative integers \(k\) and \(\ell\) with \(k+\ell\leq t\) the sum of \(k\) (not necessarily distinct) elements of \(S\) can only equal the sum of \(\ell\) (not necessarily distinct) elements of \(S\) if \(k=\ell\) and the two sums contain the same terms. If \(\{ a_{1},\ldots ,a_{m}\}\subset{\mathbb{Z}}\) is \(t\)-free then \(X=\{{\mathbf u}_{i}\mid i=1,\ldots, n\}\) with \[ {\mathbf u}_{i}=\frac{1}{\sqrt{m}} \Biggl(\cos \biggl(\frac{2\pi ia_{1}}{n} \biggr),\sin \biggl(\frac{2\pi ia_{1}}{n}\biggr),\ldots,\cos \biggl(\frac{2\pi ia_{m}}{n}\biggr),\sin \biggl(\frac{2\pi ia_{m}}{n}\biggr)\Biggr) \] is a spherical design on \(S^{d}\) of index \(k\) (if \(k\) is an odd positive integer) and a spherical \(t\)-design (if \(t=1,2\) or \(3\)). The author gives explicit constructions of \(t\)-free sets in \({\mathbb{Z}}_{n}\) and asymptotic bounds for the size of a largest \(t\)-free set in \({\mathbb{Z}}_{n}\).