Designs, colourings and hypergraphs

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The research in this proposal is in the field of discrete mathematics known as design theory. In essence, a design having parameters N, K and L is a mathematical model in which each of N items is a member of several groups where (1) each group contains exactly K items, and (2) each pair of items are found together in exactly L of the groups. For example, if N=7, K=3 and L=1, and if the seven items of the design are represented by the letters A to G then the following seven groups produce a valid design: ABD, BCE, CDF, DEG, AEF, BFG, ACG. Designs can be used to schedule or coordinate situations in which groups with this type of structure are needed. For instance, if a farmer with seven crop varieties to plant wants to sow a mixture of three varieties in each field such that no pair of varieties is grown together in more than one field, then the example design just presented would provide a solution in which varieties A,B,D are planted in one field, B,C,E in the next field, and so forth. Sometimes the items of a design also need to be divided into collections so that no group has all K of its items coming from just one of the collections of items. For example, suppose a farmer can have one of X available treatments for disease control applied to each seed variety; varieties with a common treatment then form one collection. To reduce the risk of crop failure in each field, sowing any field with K varieties that have all had the same seed treatment is to be avoided. The design above cannot be split up into X=2 collections in this manner, but if X=3 then the three collections [A,C,E], [B,D] and [F,G] would achieve the desired result. The research in this proposal will study designs as abstract mathematical objects, and will consider several unsolved problems. One such problem is to prove for each choice of K and X that there exists a design with L=1 and with some number N of items that can be partitioned into X collections, but not into X-1 collections. Several students and post-doctoral fellows will receive advanced mathematical training in conjunction with this research. In addition to helping to advance science, they will be prepared for careers in academia or other settings in which complex analytical skills are required.