The classification of flag-transitive Steiner 3-designs

We solve the long-standing open problem of classifying all 3-(v,k,1) designs with a flag-transitive group of automorphisms (cf. A. Delandtsheer, Geom. Dedicata 41 (1992), p. 147; and in: "Handbook of Incidence Geometry", ed. by F. Buekenhout, Elsevier Science, Amsterdam, 1995, p. 273; but presumably dating back to 1965). Our result relies on the classification of the finite 2-transitive permutation groups.Comment: 27 pages; to appear in the journal "Advances in Geometry

Symmetric graphs with complete quotients

Let $\Gamma$ be a $G$-symmetric graph with vertex set $V$. We suppose that $V$ admits a $G$-partition $\mathcal{B} = \{ B_0, ... , B_b \}$, with parts of size $v$, and that the quotient graph induced on $\mathcal B$ is a complete graph of order $b+1$. Then, for each pair of distinct suffices $i, j$, the graph induced on the union $B_i\cup B_j$ is bipartite with each vertex of valency $0$ or $t$ (a constant). When $t=1$, it was shown earlier how a flag-transitive $1$-design $D(B_i)$ induced on a part $B_i$ can sometimes be used to classify possible triples $(\Gamma, G, \mathcal B)$. Here we extend these ideas to $t > 1$ and prove that, if the group induced by $G$ on a part $B_i$ is $2$-transitive and the "blocks" of $D(B_i)$ have size less than $v$, then either (i) $v < b$, or (ii) the triple $(\Gamma, G, \mathcal B)$ is known explicitly.Comment: The first version of this manuscript dates from 2000. It was uploaded to the arXiv since several people wished to have a copy. This new version is updated with a literature review up to 2017. It is submitted for publication and is currently under review (September 2017

Unitary graphs and classification of a family of symmetric graphs with complete quotients

A finite graph $\Gamma$ is called $G$-symmetric if $G$ is a group of automorphisms of $\Gamma$ which is transitive on the set of ordered pairs of adjacent vertices of $\Gamma$. We study a family of symmetric graphs, called the unitary graphs, whose vertices are flags of the Hermitian unital and whose adjacency relations are determined by certain elements of the underlying finite fields. Such graphs admit the unitary groups as groups of automorphisms, and they play a significant role in the classification of a family of symmetric graphs with complete quotients such that an associated incidence structure is a doubly point-transitive linear space. We give this classification in the paper and also investigate combinatorial properties of the unitary graphs

Vertex-imprimitive symmetric graphs with exactly one edge between any two distinct blocks

A graph $\Gamma$ is called $G$-symmetric if it admits $G$ as a group of automorphisms acting transitively on the set of ordered pairs of adjacent vertices. We give a classification of $G$-symmetric graphs $\Gamma$ with $V(\Gamma)$ admitting a nontrivial $G$-invariant partition $\mathcal{B}$ such that there is exactly one edge of $\Gamma$ between any two distinct blocks of $\mathcal{B}$. This is achieved by giving a classification of $(G, 2)$-point-transitive and $G$-block-transitive designs $\mathcal{D}$ together with $G$-orbits $\Omega$ on the flag set of $\mathcal{D}$ such that $G_{\sigma, L}$ is transitive on $L \setminus \{\sigma\}$ and $L \cap N = \{\sigma\}$ for distinct $(\sigma, L), (\sigma, N) \in \Omega$, where $G_{\sigma, L}$ is the setwise stabilizer of $L$ in the stabilizer $G_{\sigma}$ of $\sigma$ in $G$. Along the way we determine all imprimitive blocks of $G_{\sigma}$ on $V \setminus \{\sigma\}$ for every $2$-transitive group $G$ on a set $V$, where $\sigma \in V$.Comment: This is the final version which will appear in JCT(A). The previous title of this paper was "symmetric spreads of complete graphs

Finite 33-connected homogeneous graphs

A finite graph \G is said to be {\em $(G,3)$-$($connected$)$ homogeneous} if every isomorphism between any two isomorphic (connected) subgraphs of order at most $3$ extends to an automorphism $g\in G$ of the graph, where $G$ is a group of automorphisms of the graph. In 1985, Cameron and Macpherson determined all finite $(G, 3)$-homogeneous graphs. In this paper, we develop a method for characterising $(G,3)$-connected homogeneous graphs. It is shown that for a finite $(G,3)$-connected homogeneous graph \G=(V, E), either G_v^{\G(v)} is $2$--transitive or G_v^{\G(v)} is of rank $3$ and \G has girth $3$, and that the class of finite $(G,3)$-connected homogeneous graphs is closed under taking normal quotients. This leads us to study graphs where $G$ is quasiprimitive on $V$. We determine the possible quasiprimitive types for $G$ in this case and give new constructions of examples for some possible types

Steiner systems S(2,4,2m)S(2,4,2^m) for m≡0(mod4)m \equiv 0 \pmod{4} supported by a family of extended cyclic codes

In [C. Ding, An infinite family of Steiner systems $S(2,4,2^m)$ from cyclic codes, {\em J. Combin. Des.} 26 (2018), no.3, 126--144], Ding constructed a family of Steiner systems $S(2,4,2^m)$ for all $m \equiv 2 \pmod{4}$ from a family of extended cyclic codes. The objective of this paper is to present a family of Steiner systems $S(2,4,2^m)$ for all $m \equiv 0 \pmod{4}$ supported by a family of extended cyclic codes. The main result of this paper complements the previous work of Ding, and the results in the two papers will show that there exists a binary extended cyclic code that can support a Steiner system $S(2,4,2^m)$ for all even $m \geq 4$. This paper also determines the parameters of other $2$-designs supported by this family of extended cyclic codes

Flag-transitive 44-designs and PSL(2,q)PSL(2,q) groups

This paper considers flag-transitive $4$-$(q+1,k,\lambda)$ designs with $\lambda\geq5$ and $q+1>k>4$. Let the automorphism group of a design $\cal D$ be a simple group $G=PSL(2,q)$. Depend on the fact that the setwise stabilizer $G_B$ must be one of twelve kinds of subgroups, up to isomorphism we get the following two results. (i) If $10\geq \lambda \geq 5$, then except $(G,G_x,G_B,k,\lambda)=(PSL(2,761),{E_{761}}\rtimes {C_{380}},S_4,24,7)$ or $(PSL(2,512),{E_{512}}\rtimes {C_{511}},{D_{18}},18,8)$ undecided, $\cal D$ is a $4$-$(24,8,5)$, $4$-$(9,8,5)$, $4$-$(8,6,6)$, $4$-$(10,9,6)$, $4$-$(9,6,10)$, $4$-$(9,7,10)$, $4$-$(12,11,8)$ or $4$-$(14,13,10)$ design with $G_B=D_8$, ${E_8}\rtimes {C_7}$, $D_6$, ${E_9}\rtimes {C_4}$, $PSL(2,2)$, $D_{14}$, ${E_{11}}\rtimes {C_{5}}$ or ${E_{13}}\rtimes {C_6}$ respectively. (ii) If $\lambda>10$, ${G_B}=A_4$, $S_4$, $A_5$, $PGL(2,q_0)$($g>1$ even) or $PSL(2,q_0)$, where ${q_0}^g=q$, then there is no such design

Proofs of Two Conjectures On the Dimensions of Binary Codes

Let $\mathcal{L}$ and $\mathcal{L}_0$ be the binary codes generated by the column $\mathbb{F}_2$-null space of the incidence matrix of external points versus passant lines and internal points versus secant lines with respect to a conic in $PG(2, q)$, respectively. We confirm the conjectures on the dimensions of $\mathcal{L}$ and $\mathcal{L}_0$ using methods from both finite geometry and modular representation theory.Comment: 29 page

Symmetric designs and projective special unitary groups of dimension at most five

In this article, we study symmetric $(v, k, \lambda)$ designs admitting a flag-transitive and point-primitive automorphism group $G$ whose socle is a projective special unitary group of dimension at most five. We, in particular, determine all such possible parameters $(v, k, \lambda)$ and show that there exist eight non-isomorphic of such designs for which $\lambda\in\{3,6,12, 16, 18\}$ and $G$ is $PSU_{3}(3)$, $PSU_{3}(3):2$, $PSU_{4}(2)$ or $PSU_{4}(2):2$

Large dimensional classical groups and linear spaces

Suppose that a group $G$ has socle $L$ a simple large-rank classical group. Suppose furthermore that $G$ acts transitively on the set of lines of a linear space $\mathcal{S}$. We prove that, provided $L$ has dimension at least 25, then $G$ acts transitively on the set of flags of $\mathcal{S}$ and hence the action is known. For particular families of classical groups our results hold for dimension smaller than 25. The group theoretic methods used to prove the result (described in Section 3) are robust and general and are likely to have wider application in the study of almost simple groups acting on finite linear spaces.Comment: 32 pages. Version 2 has a new format that includes less repetition. It also proves a slightly stronger result; with the addition of our "Concluding Remarks" section the result holds for dimension at least 2