New infinite families of 3-designs from algebraic curves over \(\mathbb F_q\) (Q875062)

Let \(X\) be a set with \(v\) elements and \(B\) a collection of subsets of \(X\) with \(k\) elements each. A \(t\)-\((v, k,\lambda)\) design is said to exist if every \(t\)-element subset of \(X\) is contained in exactly \(\lambda\) blocks. Let \(\mathbb{F}_q\) be a finite field having odd characteristic and \(\Omega\mathbb{F}_q\cup\{\infty\}\), \(\infty\) being a symbol. It is known, for any set \(X\subset\Omega\) we have a \(3\)-\((q+ 1,|X|,{|X|\choose 3}{G\over G_x})\) design, where \(G_x\) is the setwise stabilizer of \(X\) in \(G\). It is very difficult to find \(|G_x|\). By identifying \(X\) with \(D^+_f= \{a\in\mathbb{F}_q\mid f(a)\in(\mathbb{F}^x_q)^2\}\) for an \(f\in\mathbb{F}_q(x)\), where \(f\) is without multiple roots, it is shown that the stabilizer of \(D^+_f\) is the same as the stabilizer of \(D^0_f= \{a\in\mathbb{F}_q\mid f(a)= 0\}\cup\{\infty\}\). As a consequence a family of designs such as \(3\)-\((q+ 1,{q-1\over 2}, {(q-1)(q-3)(q-5)\over 16})\) is constructed, where \(q\) is a prime power satisfying \(q\geq 59\) and \(q\equiv 3\pmod 4\).