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

Strongly Regular Graphs From Unions of Cyclotomic Classes

We give two constructions of strongly regular Cayley graphs on finite fields \F_q by using union of cyclotomic classes and index 2 Gauss sums. In particular, we obtain twelve infinite families of strongly regular graphs with new parameters.Comment: 17 pages; to appear in J. Combin. Theory (B

Semi-regular Relative Difference Sets with Large Forbidden Subgroups

Motivated by a connection between semi-regular relative difference sets and mutually unbiased bases, we study relative difference sets with parameters $(m,n,m,m/n)$ in groups of non-prime-power orders. Let $p$ be an odd prime. We prove that there does not exist a $(2p,p,2p,2)$ relative difference set in any group of order $2p^2$, and an abelian $(4p,p,4p,4)$ relative difference set can only exist in the group $\Bbb{Z}_2^2\times \Bbb{Z}_3^2$. On the other hand, we construct a family of non-abelian relative difference sets with parameters $(4q,q,4q,4)$, where $q$ is an odd prime power greater than 9 and $q\equiv 1$ (mod 4). When $q=p$ is a prime, $p>9$, and $p\equiv$ 1 (mod 4), the $(4p,p,4p,4)$ non-abelian relative difference sets constructed here are genuinely non-abelian in the sense that there does not exist an abelian relative difference set with the same parameters