A mass formula for Steiner triple systems STS\((2^n-1)\) of 2-rank \(2^n-n\) (Q5947360)

An incidence matrix of a Steiner triple system \(\text{STS}(v)\) is a \((0,1)\) matrix \(A=(a_{ij})\) with rows indexed by the blocks of STS, and the columns indexed by its points, where \(a_{ij}=1\) if the \(i\)th block contains the \(j\)th point, otherwise \(a_{ij}=0.\) The 2-rank of \(\text{STS}(v)\) is the rank of \(A\) over the binary field. It is known that the 2-rank of a Steiner triple system on \(2^{n}-1\) points, \(\text{STS}(2^{n}-1)\), is at least \(2^{n}-n-1,\) and there is only one \(\text{STS}(2^{n}-1)\) of 2-rank \(2^{n}-n-1\). The author proves that the number of nonisomorphic \(\text{STS}(2^{n}-1)\) of 2-rank \(2^{n}-n\) grows exponentially with \(n.\)