Semi-cyclic holey group divisible designs with block size three and applications to sampling designs and optical orthogonal codes

We consider the existence problem for a semi-cyclic holey group divisible design of type (n,m^t) with block size 3, which is denoted by a 3-SCHGDD of type (n,m^t). When t is odd and n\neq 8 or t is doubly even and t\neq 8, the existence problem is completely solved; when t is singly even, many infinite families are obtained. Applications of our results to two-dimensional balanced sampling plans and optimal two-dimensional optical orthogonal codes are also discussed.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1304.328

Leaves for packings with block size four

We consider maximum packings of edge-disjoint $4$-cliques in the complete graph $K_n$. When $n \equiv 1$ or $4 \pmod{12}$, these are simply block designs. In other congruence classes, there are necessarily uncovered edges; we examine the possible `leave' graphs induced by those edges. We give particular emphasis to the case $n \equiv 0$ or $3 \pmod{12}$, when the leave is $2$-regular. Colbourn and Ling settled the case of Hamiltonian leaves in this case. We extend their construction and use several additional direct and recursive constructions to realize a variety of $2$-regular leaves. For various subsets $S \subseteq \{3,4,5,\dots\}$, we establish explicit lower bounds on $n$ to guarantee the existence of maximum packings with any possible leave whose cycle lengths belong to $S$.Comment: 19 pages plus supplementary fil

Group divisible designs with block size 4 and type g^u m^1 - II

We show that the necessary conditions for the existence of 4-GDDs of type g^u m^1 are sufficient for g congruent to 0 (mod h), h = 39, 51, 57, 69, 87, 93, and for g = 13, 17, 19, 23, 25, 29, 31 and 35. More generally, we show that for all g congruent to 3 (mod 6), the possible exceptions occur only when u = 8 and g is not divisible by any of 9, 15, 21, 33, 39, 51, 57, 69, 87 or 93. Consequently we are able to extend the known spectrum for g congruent to 1 and g congruent to 5 (mod 6). Also we complete the spectrum for 4-GDDs of type (3a)^4 (6a)^1 (3b)^1.Comment: 106 pages, including 91-page Appendix. Abridged submitted for publicatio