Hadamard matrices modulo 5

In this paper we introduce modular symmetric designs and use them to study the existence of Hadamard matrices modulo 5. We prove that there exist 5-modular Hadamard matrices of order n if and only if n != 3, 7 (mod 10) or n != 6, 11. In particular, this solves the 5-modular version of the Hadamard conjecture.Comment: 7 pages, submitted to JC

Hadamard matrices modulo p and small modular Hadamard matrices

We use modular symmetric designs to study the existence of Hadamard matrices modulo certain primes. We solve the $7$-modular and $11$-modular versions of the Hadamard conjecture for all but a finite number of cases. In doing so, we state a conjecture for a sufficient condition for the existence of a $p$-modular Hadamard matrix for all but finitely many cases. When $2$ is a primitive root of a prime $p$, we conditionally solve this conjecture and therefore the $p$-modular version of the Hadamard conjecture for all but finitely many cases when $p \equiv 3 \pmod{4}$, and prove a weaker result for $p \equiv 1 \pmod{4}$. Finally, we look at constraints on the existence of $m$-modular Hadamard matrices when the size of the matrix is small compared to $m$.Comment: 14 pages; to appear in the Journal of Combinatorial Designs; proofs of Lemma 4.7 and Theorem 5.2 altered in response to referees' comment

Some non-existence and asymptotic existence results for weighing matrices

Orthogonal designs and weighing matrices have many applications in areas such as coding theory, cryptography, wireless networking and communication. In this paper, we first show that if positive integer $k$ cannot be written as the sum of three integer squares, then there does not exist any skew-symmetric weighing matrix of order $4n$ and weight $k$, where $n$ is an odd positive integer. Then we show that for any square $k$, there is an integer $N(k)$ such that for each $n\ge N(k)$, there is a symmetric weighing matrix of order $n$ and weight $k$. Moreover, we improve some of the asymptotic existence results for weighing matrices obtained by Eades, Geramita and Seberry.Comment: To appear in International Journal of Combinatorics (Hindawi). in Int. J. Combin. (Feb 2016

More nonexistence results for symmetric pair coverings

A $(v,k,\lambda)$-covering is a pair $(V, \mathcal{B})$, where $V$ is a $v$-set of points and $\mathcal{B}$ is a collection of $k$-subsets of $V$ (called blocks), such that every unordered pair of points in $V$ is contained in at least $\lambda$ blocks in $\mathcal{B}$. The excess of such a covering is the multigraph on vertex set $V$ in which the edge between vertices $x$ and $y$ has multiplicity $r_{xy}-\lambda$, where $r_{xy}$ is the number of blocks which contain the pair $\{x,y\}$. A covering is symmetric if it has the same number of blocks as points. Bryant et al.(2011) adapted the determinant related arguments used in the proof of the Bruck-Ryser-Chowla theorem to establish the nonexistence of certain symmetric coverings with $2$-regular excesses. Here, we adapt the arguments related to rational congruence of matrices and show that they imply the nonexistence of some cyclic symmetric coverings and of various symmetric coverings with specified excesses.Comment: Submitted on May 22, 2015 to the Journal of Linear Algebra and its Application

Cyclotomic Constructions of Skew Hadamard Difference Sets

We revisit the old idea of constructing difference sets from cyclotomic classes. Two constructions of skew Hadamard difference sets are given in the additive groups of finite fields using unions of cyclotomic classes of order $N=2p_1^m$, where $p_1$ is a prime and $m$ a positive integer. Our main tools are index 2 Gauss sums, instead of cyclotomic numbers.Comment: 15 pages; corrected a few typos; to appear in J. Combin. Theory (A