Skip to main content
Log in

Exponential number of quasi-symmetric SDP designs and codes meeting the Grey-Rankin bound

  • Published:
Designs, Codes and Cryptography Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

It is shown that quasi-symmetric designs which are derived or residual designs of nonisomorphic symmetric designs with the symmetric difference property are also nonisomorphic. Combined with a result by W. Kantor, this implies that the number of nonisomorphic quasi-symmetric designs with the symmetric difference property grows exponentially. The column spaces of the incidence matrices of these designs provide an exponential number of inequivalent codes meeting the Grey-Rankin bound. A transformation of quasi-symmetric designs by means of maximal arcs is described. In particular, a residual quasi-symmetric design with the symmetric difference property is transformed into a quasi-symmetric design with the same block graph but higher rank over GF(2).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Assmus, E.F., jr. and Key, J.D., 1989. “Arcs and ovals in the Hermitian and Ree unitals,” Europ. J. Combinatorics 10:297–308.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beth, Th., Jungnickel, D., and Lenz, H., 1986. Design Theory, Mannheim: B.I. Wissenschaftsverlag, 1985, and Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brouwer, A.E., 1981 “Some unitals on 28 points and their embeddings in projective planes of order 9.” In: Geometries and Groups, (M. Aigner and D. Jungnickel eds.) LNM 893:183–189. Berlin: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cameron, P.J., and van Lint, J.H., 1980. Graphs, Codes and Designs, Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dillon, J.F., and Schatz, J.R., 1987. “Block designs with the symmetric difference property,” in Proc. of the NSA Mathematical Sciences Meetings, (R.L. Ward ed.) The US Government, pp. 159–164.

  • Hall, M. Jr. 1986. Combinatorial Theory, (2nd ed.) New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jungnickel, D. and Tonchev, V.D. (forthcoming) “Symmetric and quasi-symmetric designs with the symmetric difference property and their codes,” J. Combin. Theory, Ser. A.

  • Kantor, W.M. 1975. “Symplectic groups, symmetric designs and line ovals,” J. Algebra 33:43–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kantor, W.M. 1983. “Exponential numbers of two-weight codes, difference sets and symmetric designs,” Discr. Math. 46:95–98.

    Google Scholar 

  • MacWilliams, F.J. and Sloane, N.J.A. 1977. The Theory of Error-Correcting Codes, Amsterdam: North-Holland.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, E.J. 1977. “Arcs in block designs,” Ars Combinatoria 4:3–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rothaus, O.S. 1986. “On “bent” functions,” J. Combin. Theory, A 20:300–305.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tonchev, V.D. 1988. Combinatorial Configurations, Longman Scientific and Technical, New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Additional information

Communicated by R.C. Mullin

Dedicated to Professor Hanfried Lenz on the occasion of his 75th birthday.

This paper was written while the author was at the University of Giessen as a Research Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, on leave from the University of Sofia, Bulgaria.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Jungnickel, D., Tonchev, V.D. Exponential number of quasi-symmetric SDP designs and codes meeting the Grey-Rankin bound. Des Codes Crypt 1, 247–253 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00123764

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00123764

Keywords