Counting Steiner triple systems with classical parameters and prescribed rank

DOI10.1016/J.JCTA.2018.09.009zbMATH Open1401.05049arXiv1709.06044OpenAlexW2962788769WikidataQ129143495 ScholiaQ129143495MaRDI QIDQ1633366FDOQ1633366

Vladimir D. Tonchev, Dieter Jungnickel

Publication date: 19 December 2018

Published in: Journal of Combinatorial Theory. Series A (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: By a famous result of Doyen, Hubaut and Vandensavel cite{DHV}, the 2-rank of a Steiner triple system on $2^n-1$ points is at least $2^n-1-n$, and equality holds only for the classical point-line design in the projective geometry $PG(n-1,2)$. It follows from results of Assmus cite{A} that, given any integer $t$ with $1leqtleqn-1$, there is a code $C_{n,t}$ containing representatives of all isomorphism classes of STS$(2^n-1)$ with 2-rank at most $2^n-1-n+t$. Using a mixture of coding theoretic, geometric, design theoretic and combinatorial arguments, we prove a general formula for the number of distinct STS$(2^n-1)$ with 2-rank at most $2^n-1-n+t$ contained in this code. This generalizes the only previously known cases, $t=1$, proved by Tonchev cite{T01} in 2001, $t=2$, proved by V. Zinoviev and D. Zinoviev cite{ZZ12} in 2012, and $t=3$ (V. Zinoviev and D. Zinoviev cite{ZZ13}, cite{ZZ13a} (2013), D. Zinoviev cite{Z16} (2016)), while also unifying and simplifying the proofs. This enumeration result allows us to prove lower and upper bounds for the number of isomorphism classes of STS$(2^n-1)$ with 2-rank exactly (or at most) $2^n-1-n+t$. Finally, using our recent systematic study of the ternary block codes of Steiner triple systems cite{JT}, we obtain analogous results for the ternary case, that is, for STS$(3^n)$ with 3-rank at most (or exactly) $3^n-1-n+t$. We note that this work provides the first two infinite families of 2-designs for which one has non-trivial lower and upper bounds for the number of non-isomorphic examples with a prescribed $p$-rank in almost the entire range of possible ranks.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1709.06044

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zbMATH Keywords

linear codeprojective spaceSteiner triple systemaffine space

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Combinatorial aspects of block designs (05B05) Steiner systems in finite geometry (51E10) Triple systems (05B07)

Cites Work

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• The CRC handbook of combinatorial designs
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• Almost All Steiner Triple Systems Are Asymmetric
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• On Classifying Steiner Triple Systems by Their 3-Rank
• The classification of Steiner triple systems on 27 points with 3-rank 24
• There are 1239 Steiner triple systems \(STS(31)\) of 2-rank 27
• Steiner triple systems of order 15 and their codes

Cited In (9)

• Enumerating Steiner triple systems
• Steiner systems \(S(2, 4, \frac{3^m-1}{2})\) and 2-designs from ternary linear codes of length \(\frac{3^m-1}{2}\)
• On the number of resolvable Steiner triple systems of small 3-rank
• The projective general linear group \(\mathrm{PGL}(2,2^m)\) and linear codes of length \(2^m+1\)
• The number of the non-full-rank Steiner quadruple systems \(S ( v , 4 , 3 )\)
• Linear codes of 2-designs associated with subcodes of the ternary generalized Reed-Muller codes
• The classification of Steiner triple systems on 27 points with 3-rank 24
• There are 1239 Steiner triple systems \(STS(31)\) of 2-rank 27
• A mass formula for Steiner triple systems STS\((2^n-1)\) of 2-rank \(2^n-n\)

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