Halving Steiner 2-designs (Q879328)

A Steiner \(2\)-design \(S(2,k,v)\) is halvable if the block set can be partitioned into two isomorphic sets. This is equivalent to a partition of a self-complementary graph \(G\) on \(v\) vertices into cliques \(K_k\). Asymptotic solutions to this problem are provided for various block sizes. It is proved that for any \(k\leq 5\) or any Mersenne prime \(k\), there is a constant \(v_0\) such that for any \(v>v_0\), which satisfies the necessary conditions that there exists \(S(2,k,v)\) with an even number of blocks there exists a halvable \(S(2,k,v)\). It is also showed that a halvable \(S(2,2^n,v)\) exists for more than half of the possible orders. Some recursive constructions are also presented.