¿^creative , ars mathematica ^commons contemporánea Also available at http://amc-journal.eu ISSN 1855-3966 (printed edn.), ISSN 1855-3974 (electronic edn.) ARS MATHEMATICA CONTEMPORANEA 12 (2017) 111-126 Coherent configurations over copies of association schemes of prime order Reza Sharafdini * Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, Persian Gulf University, Bushehr 75169-13817, Iran. Mitsugu Hirasaka Department of Mathematics, College of Natural Sciences, Pusan National University, Busan 609-735, South Korea. Received 21 November 2014, accepted 17 May 2016, published online 2 November 2016 Abstract Let G be a group acting faithfully and transitively on Qi for i = 1,2. A famous theorem by Burnside implies the following fact: If |Qi| = |Q2| is a prime and the rank of one of the actions is greater than two, then the actions are equivalent, or equivalently |(a,3)G| = |Qi| = |Q21 for some (a, ¡3) e Qi x Q2. In this paper we consider a combinatorial analogue to this fact through the theory of coherent configurations, and give some arithmetic sufficient conditions for a coherent configuration with two homogeneous components of prime order to be uniquely determined by one of the homogeneous components. Keywords: Coherent configurations, association schemes, prime order, symmetric designs. Math. Subj. Class.: 05C15, 05C10 1 Introduction A famous theorem by Burnside states that each transitive permutation group of prime degree with rank greater than two is Frobenius or regular. Since any Frobenius group of prime degree is a subgroup of one-dimensional affine group, it follows that such a permutation group is uniquely determined by its rank and degree up to equivalence of group actions. Especially, if a group acts faithfully, transitively but not 2-transitively on each of two sets of the same prime size, then the two actions are equivalent. Let us formulate this fact in the following two paragraphs. * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: sharafdini@pgu.ac.ir (Reza Sharafdini), hirasaka@pusan.ac.kr (Mitsugu Hirasaka) ©® This work is licensed under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ 112 Ars Math. Contemp. 12 (2017) 111-126 Let G be a group acting transitively on Q, for i = 1, 2. Then G acts on Q, x Qj by (a,|)g = (ag ,lg) for (a,|) G Q, x Qj and g G G, for all i,j = 1, 2. It is well-known that (e.g., see [6, Lemma 1.6B]) the following are equivalent: (a) The action of G on Q1 is equivalent to that on Q2; (b) There exists (a, |) G Q1 x Q2 such that Ga = Gp; (c) There exists (a, l ) G Qi x Q2 such that |(a,|)G| = |Qi| = |Q21. Note that the rank of the action of G on Q, is equal to the number of orbits of G on Q, x Q,, and if G acts faithfully on Q,, then G can be identified with a permutation group of Q,. Suppose that G acts faithfully on Q, with i = 1,2 and |Q11 = |Q21 is a prime. Then, as mentioned in the first paragraph, these actions are equivalent if the rank of one of the actions is greater than two, and so there exists an orbit R of G on Q1 x Q2 such that |R| = | Q11 = |Q21. In this paper we consider a combinatorial analogy to this fact through the theory of coherent configurations. The concept of coherent configurations was first introduced by Higman who published a series of papers (e.g., [11], [12], [13]) to associate a lot of important criterions with group actions. Here we define a coherent configuration, its intersection numbers and its fibers according to the notations as in [7]. Definition 1.1. Let V be a finite set and R a partition of V x V. We say that the pair C = (V, R) is a coherent configuration if it satisfies the following: 1. The diagonal relation AV is a union of elements of R where we denote {(u,u) | u g U} by Au for a set U. 2. For each R gR its transpose Rl = {(u, v) | (v, u) G R} is an element of R. 3. For all R,S,T gR there exists a constant cRS such that cRS = |R(u) n S4(v)| for all (u, v) G T, where we denote by T (w) the set {z g V | (w, z) G T} for w G V and T gR. The constants cRS are called the intersection numbers. A subset X of V is called a fiber of C if Ax G R. We denote the set of all fibers of C by Fib(C). By Definition 1.1(i), V is partitioned into the fibers of C, and by Definition 1.1(i),(iii), R is partitioned into \Rx,y | X,Y g Fib(C) j where Rx,y = [R G R | R C X x Let U be a union of fibers of C. Then the pair (U, {R G R | R C U x U^, is also a coherent configuration, which is denoted by CU. For R G Rx,y we denote c^t by dR. Then, by two-way counting we have |R| = d^X| = dRt ^|. (1.1) R. Sharafdini and M. Hirasaka: Coherent configurations over copies of association schemes . 113 For X G Fib(C), CX is nothing but an association scheme, i.e., a coherent configuration with only one fiber (see [2] or [20] for its background). For short we shall write RX,X as RX and CX is called a homogeneous component of C. A general question here is formulated as follows: what can be said about the coherent configuration if its homogeneous components are known. For example, it is a well-known fact that the coherent configuration corresponds to a system of linked block designs if |RX| = 2 for all X G Fib(C). After the seminal Hanaki-Uno theorem on association schemes of prime order (see [10] or Theorem 3.1), it seems quite natural to ask on a possible structure of a coherent configuration each homogeneous component of which is of prime order. The following is our first main result answering to this question: Theorem 1.2. Let X, Y G Fib(C) such that |X| = |Y| is a prime. Then |RX,Y| G {1, |RX |}. In particular, if |RX,Y | > 1, then |Rx,y | = |Rx | = |Ry |. In order to state our second main theorem we need to recall the following observation. Let G be a group acting on a finite set Q. Then G acts on Oxfi componentwise, and an orbit of G on Q x Q is called an orbital (or 2-orbit) of G. We denote the set of orbitals of G by OG. Then it is well-known that CG = (Q, OG) is a coherent configuration, and Fib(CG) is the set of orbits of G on Q. In this sense, a coherent configuration is a combinatorial object to generalize the orbitals of a group action. Now we assume that C = ( V, R) is a coherent configuration with exactly two fibers X, Y. Then (1.1) proves the equivalence of the first two statements of the following (see [16] for the remaining): (d) There exists R G RX,Y such that |R| = |X| = |Y|. (e) 1 G {dR | R G Rx,y} n {dR | R G Ry,x}. (f) C is isomorphic to CX T2 where 7n = ({1,2,... ,n}, {{(i, j )} | 1 < i, j < n} (see Section 2 for the definition of isomorphism and 0). We notice the following: (d) is a combinatorial analogy to (c), and such R is a matching between X and Y ; (e) is a simple arithmetic condition on intersection numbers; (f) implies that CX and CY are isomorphic, and C is uniquely determined by CX. In this paper we aim to obtain the analogous conclusion (d)-(f) to (a)-(c). The following is our second main result to generalize the fact as in the first paragraph under certain arithmetic conditions on intersection numbers: Theorem 1.3. Suppose that C = ( V, R) is a coherent configuration with exactly two fibers X, Y satisfying |X| = |Y| isaprime, |Rx,x | > 2 and |Rx,y | > 1. (1.2) Then there exists R G RX,Y such that |R| = |X | = |Y | if one of the following conditions X1 holds with k = —--—- : |Rx,x | - 1 (i) |RX,X | > k2 (k + e — 2) where e is the number of prime divisors of k; 114 Ars Math. Contemp. 12 (2017) 111-126 (ii) k G {q, 2q, 3q} for some prime power q; (iii) k = 4q for some prime power q with 3 { q +1. Let us show the reason why we exclude the case of |RX,X | = 2. Each symmetric design induces the coherent configuration with exactly two fibers and eight relations (see [14] or [16, Example 1.3]), and if the design is a non-trivial one on a prime number of points, like the Fano plane, then the induced coherent configuration does not satisfy (d)-(f). Of course, if |Rx,y| — 1, then none of (d)-(f) hold, while C is the direct sum of Cx and CY (see [16] for the definition of direct sum). Remark 1.4. Applying Theorem 1.3 for CXUY with |X| < 100 we obtain the same conclusion as Theorem 1.3 except for the case (|X|,k) — (71, 35) (see Section 5 for the details). Suppose that (|X|, k) — (71,35) and 1 G {dr | R G Rx,y}. (1.3) Then by Theorem 1.2, |RX,Y | — 3. The three elements of RX,Y must form three symmetric designs whose parameters (v, k, A) are (71, 35,17), (71,21,6) and (71,15,3), respectively. Though each of such symmetric designs exists (see [1], [3], [5], [9] and [17] or [4, II.6.24,VI.16.30]), it does not guarantee the existence of a coherent configuration satisfying (1.3). In [14], Higman gave a result to eliminate the case of (|X|, k) — (71,35) as in the previous paragraph. But, the proof given in [14, (3.2)] contains a serious gap, so the result may not be recognized to be true, while we have not found any counterexample. We would be able to disprove [14, (3.2)] if there exists a coherent configuration satisfying (1.3). In Section 2 we prepare several basic results on intersection numbers and introduce the concepts of complex products and equitable partitions. In Section 3 we give a proof of Theorem 1.2. In Section 4 we give a proof of Theorem 1.3. We add Section 5 for the elimination of coherent configurations on at most 200 points satisfying (1.2). 2 Preliminaries Throughout this section we assume that C — (V, R) is a coherent configuration. Let Ci — (Vi, Rj) be a coherent configurations, i — 1, 2. An isomorphism from Ci to C2 is defined to be a bijection ^ : Vl URi —> V2 U R2 such that for all u,v G Vl and R G Rl, (u,v) G R ^ (V>(u), V(v)) G V(R). We say that Cl is isomorphic to C2 and denote it by Cl ~ C2 if there exists an isomorphism from Cl to C2. We set Rl R2 — {Rl < R2 | Rl g Rl, R2 G R2j, where Ri < R2 — \ ((ui, U2), (vi,v2^ | (ui, vi) G Ri, (u2,v2) G R2 k R. Sharafdini and M. Hirasaka: Coherent configurations over copies of association schemes . 115 Then (V1 x V2, R1 ® R2) is a coherent configuration called the tensor product of C1 and C2 and denoted by C1 (g) C2. Following [20] we define the complex product on the power set of R. For all subsets S and T of R we define the complex product ST of S and T to be the subset {r gR| 3(S,T ) GSxT ; cRT > o}. The complex product is an associative binary operation on the power set of R where the proof is parallel to that for association schemes (see [20]). For convenience we shall write S{T}, {S}T and {S}{T} as ST, ST and ST, respectively. In this paper we need intersection numbers cRS for R e Rx,y, S e RY,Z and T e RX,Z under the assumption |X| = |Y| = |Z|. The following is a collection of simplified equations on such intersection numbers (see [19] or [16, Lemma 2.2] for general formed equations1). For U C R we shall write du instead of ^veu dv. Lemma 2.1. For all X, Y, Z e Fib(C) with |X| = |Y| = |Z| and all R e Rx,y, S e Ry,z and T e RX,Z we have the following: 1. dRds = cRsdr; T eUx,z 2. cRSdT = cRSt dR = cRtTds and lcm(dR, ds) | cRSdT; 3. |{U e R | cRs > 0}| < gcd(dR, ds), i.e., |RS| < gcd(dfl, ds); 4. |X| = dRx,X = dRx.y. The following lemmata were proved in [18, Lemma 2.3, Lemma 2.2]2: Lemma 2.2. For all S,T e RX,Y with |X| = |Y|, we have SSt n tt 1 C {Ax } if and only if c§tT < 1 for each R e R. Lemma 2.3. Let Z e Fib(C) such that |Z | is a prime. Then for each R e RZ \ {AZ} we have: Z1 1. dR = k where k = • |Rz |- 1' 2. seRZ css4 = k — 1. According to [8] or [15] we define an equitable partition of a homogeneous component. Definition 2.4. Let X e Fib(C) and n = {C1, C2,..., Cm} be a partition of X, i.e., m X = J Ci, Ci n Cj = 0 if i = j, and C, = 0 for each i = 1, 2,..., m. i= i An element of n is called a cell. We say that n is an equitable partition of CX if, for all i, j = 1, 2,... ,m and each R e RX, |R(x) n Cj | is constant whenever x e C,. 1 We missed to assume that all fibers of c have the same size at Lemma 2.2 in [16] where the lemma is used only for such coherent configurations in [16]. 2Though it is a statement for association schemes, a parallel way to the proof can be applied for balanced coherent configurations. 116 Ars Math. Contemp. 12 (2017) 111-126 For example, {X} and {{x} | x G X} are equitable partitions of CX. For each Y G Fib(C) and each y G Y we define ny := {T(y) | T G Ry,x }. (2.1) Then ny is an equitable partition of CX, since |R(x) n S(y)| = cRSt whenever x G T(y). 3 Proof of Theorem 1.2 In [10] Hanaki and Uno proved the following brilliant theorem: Theorem 3.1. All non-principal irreducible characters of an association scheme of prime order are algebraic conjugate and of degree one. The following proposition is obtained as a consequence of the previous theorem: Proposition 3.2. Let C = (V, R) be an association scheme of prime order and n be an equitable partition of C. Then |n| = 1 mod |R| — 1. Proof. Let A denote the adjacency algebra of C over C. Then the subspace W spanned by the characteristic vectors of the cells in n is a left A-module with respect to the ordinary matrix product. Since A is semi-simple, W is a direct sum of irreducible submodules. Note that the subspace spanned by the all-one vector is an A-submodule of W affording the principal character, and its multiplicity is one. Since the character afforded by W is integral valued, it is left invariant from any algebraic conjugate action. It follows from Theorem 3.1 that all non-principal irreducible submodules of W have the same multiplicity, say m. Since dime(W) = |n| and dimc(A) = |R|, it follows that |n| = 1 + m(|R| — 1). □ Proof of Theorem 1.2. Let C = (V, R) be a coherent configuration with X, Y G Fib(C) such that |X | = | Y | is a prime. Recall that ny is an equitable partition of CX where y G Y. By (2.1), |ny | = |Rx,y |. Then it follows from Proposition 3.2 that |Rx,y | = 1 mod |Rx | — 1. Since |Rx,y| < |Rx| (see [13, p.223] or [16, Proposition 2.7]), |Rx,y| G {1, |Rx|}. Applying the first statement for CY with |RX,Y | < |RY |, we obtain the second statement. □ R. Sharafdini and M. Hirasaka: Coherent configurations over copies of association schemes . 117 4 Proof of Theorem 1.3 For the remainder of this paper we assume that C = (V, R) is a coherent configuration with X, Y e Fib(C) such that m = |X| = |Y| is a prime, r = |RX| > 2 and |Rx,y| > 1. By Theorem 1.2, we have r = |Rx | = |Rx,y | = |Ry |. For the remainder of this paper we set m — 1 k = -. r — 1 By Lemma 2.3(i) the multi-set (dfl | R e Rz ) with Z e {X, Y} coincides with (1, k,..., k) by a suitable ordering. In this section we aim to show that 1 e {dR | R e RX,Y}, which implies that the multi-set (dR | R e RX,Y) coincides with (1, k,..., k) by a suitable ordering, since the complex product SR is a singleton with dSR = ds whenever S e RX and dR = 1 by Lemma 2.1(iii). Lemma 4.1. For all S, T e RX,Y with S = T we have the following: (i) ds ds = ds mod k; (ii) ds dT = 0 mod k. Proof. (i) Applying Lemma 2.1(i) for S and S4 with ds = dst and c^Jft = ds, we obtain that ds ds = ds + k ^ cSSt. T eRx,x T= Ax (ii) Applying Lemma 2.1(i) for S and T4 with dT = dTt and AX e ST4, we obtain that ds dT = k cST t. T eRv □ We set Si := {T e Rx,y | k t dT}, S2 := {T e Rx,y | dT = k} and S3 := {T e Rx,y | k | dT, k < dT}. Lemma 4.2. Let k = p^1 • • • Pae where pj are the distinct prime divisors of k and are positive integers. Then we have the following: 1. For each i = 1,..., e there exists a unique S e RX,Y such that pi t dS; 2. |S11 < e; 3. kjSsj + ds1 < 1 + k(e — 1). 118 Ars Math. Contemp. 12 (2017) 111-126 Proof. (i) By Lemma 2.1(iv) and Lemma 2.3(i), m = 1 + (r — 1)k = 1 mod p». Since m = dRx,Y, there exists an S G RX,Y such that pj \ ds. The uniqueness of such S is a direct consequence of Lemma 4.1(ii). (ii) The correspondence given in (i) gives a function from jpi,p2,... ,pe} to Si. It remains to show that this function is onto. Let S G S1. By the definition of S1, there exists p» such that p^ does not divide ds. By Lemma 4.1(i), dsds = ds mod k. Therefore ds(ds — 1) is divided by k. Since ds and ds — 1 are relatively prime, p"i \ ds implies that p» \ ds .It follows from (i) that ds lies in the range of the function. (iii) Note that r = |Si | + S | + |Ss| and 3 m = ^ ds = ^dSi > d5l + k|S2| + 2k|S31. seRx.Y ¿=1 Since k|S21 + k|S3| = k(r — |Si |) and m = 1 + k(r — 1), it follows that 1 + k(|Si| — 1) > dsi + k|Ss|. By (ii), we have 1 + k(e — 1) > ds1 + k|Ss|. This completes the proof of (iii). □ Lemma 4.3. We have max{ds | S G RX,Y} < k • min{ds | S G RX,Y}. Proof: Let S, T G RX,Y such that ds = min{ds | S G RX,Y} and dT := max{ds | S G RX,Y}. Then T G RS for some R G RX since T G RX S. Applying Lemma 2.1(i) we have dT < kds. □ For S g RX,Y we define Us := {R G RX | R4Rn SS1 = {AX}}. Lemma 4.4. For each S G RX,Y we have the following: 1. r — |US| < (ds — 1)(k — 1). 2. If R G Us — {AX }, then k divides dT for each T G RS. 3. If Us S n S2 = 0, then r < ds (k + e — 2). Proof. (i) Note that rx —Us = (J {R G rx | Ri G R4R}. Riess'-{Ax } R. Sharafdini and M. Hirasaka: Coherent configurations over copies of association schemes . 119 By Lemma 2.1(iii) with c^X > 0, ISS4 -{Ax }| < ds - 1. It follows from Lemma 2.3(ii) that |{R e Rx I Ri € R4R}| < £ cR1r = k - 1. ReR This implies that r -|Us| = |Rx -Us|< (ds - 1)(k - 1). (ii) It is an immediate consequence of Lemma 2.1(ii) and Lemma 2.2. (iii) Suppose that Us S ns2 = 0. Then we have UsS C Rx,y - S2. It follows from (ii) that (Us -{Ax })S C S3. By Lemma 4.2(iii) and Lemma 4.3, dsa < dsk|S3| < ds[1 + k(e - 1) - d5l]. (4.1) On the other hand, applying Lemma 2.2 and Lemma 2.1(iv) for the first inequality and (i) for the second one, duss > 1 + (|Us| - 1)k - ds > 1 + [r - (ds - 1)(k - 1) - 1]k. (4.2) Since (Us - {Ax})S C S3, dUss - ds < d(Us-{Ax})s < dS3 . It follows from (4.1) and (4.2) that 1 + [r - (ds - 1)(k - 1) - 1]k - ds < ds[1 + k(e - 1) - d^], and hence, Thus, r < dS[2 + k(e - 1) - dSl] - k + (ds - 1)(k - 1) + 1. r < ds[k2 + e - 1 - d|1 + k - 1] - k + 2 - k < ds(k + e - 2). This completes the proof of (iii). □ Proposition 4.5. If r > k2 (k + e — 2) where e is the number of prime divisors of k, then 1 e {ds | s g }. 120 Ars Math. Contemp. 12 (2017) 111-126 Proof. We claim that min{ds | S e RX,Y} < k. If not, then 1 + k(r — 1) = m ^^ ds > kr, seUx,v a contradiction. By Lemma 4.3, max{ds | S e RX,Y} < k2. Applying the contraposition of Lemma 4.4(iii) we have Us S n S2 = 0 for each S e Rx,y , and hence, T e RS for some R e Us and T e S2. Since dT = k and cRs = 1 by Lemma 2.2, ds divides k for each S e RX,Y. This implies that |S3| = 0. We claim S | = 1. Suppose not. Since 1 + (r — 1)k = m = dSl + k(r — |Si |), 1 + k|S1| < k + ^ ds < k + k/2 + k/2+ (|S1| — 2)k, sesi a contradiction. By the claim we have S1 = {S} for some S e RX,Y. Since 1 + k(r — 1) = m = k|S2| + ds = k(r — 1) + ds, we have ds = 1. This completes the proof. □ Lemma 4.6. If S, T e Rx,y with ST4 = {R}, then cRr > dT for each R1 e SS4 and cRr > ds for each R2 e TT Proof. Let y e Y, x1,x2 e S4(y) and z e T4(y). Note that (xj,z) e R for i = 1,2 since ST4 = {R}. Since z e T4(y) is arbitrarily taken, we have T4(y) Ç R(x1) n R(x2), which proves the first statement. By the symmetric argument the second statement can be proved. □ Proposition 4.7. There exist no S, T e RX,Y such that ST4 = {R}, ds + dT > k + 1 and 1 < ds < dT. (4.3) Proof. Suppose that S, T e RX,Y satisfies (4.3). We claim that SS4 = {AX,R1} for some R1 e RX — {AX}. Suppose not, i.e., SS4 — {AX } has at least two elements R1, R2. By Lemma 2.1(i), k2 = dfldflt > k + cRRtdfll + cRRdfl2 = k + k + k. It follows from Lemma 4.6 and ds + dT > k +1 that k2 > k(k + 2), a contradiction. We claim that SS4 n TT4 = {Ax, R1}. Suppose not, i.e., SS4 n TT4 = {Ax}. Then, by Lemma 2.2, cRTt = 1. It follows from Lemma 2.1(i) that k = dR = dsdT, which contradicts ds + dT > k +1 and 1 < ds < dT. R. Sharafdini and M. Hirasaka: Coherent configurations over copies of association schemes . 121 We claim that R = R4. Suppose not, i.e., R = R4. Then, by Lemma 2.3(ii), cR1 > cR1 I cR1 > da cr2r2 - cRflt + cRtfl - dS k - != E cR1r2 - CRRt + ^R - dS + dT - k + 1, a contradiction. We claim that TT4 = {AX,RJ. If R2 G TT4 - {AX,RJ, then cRR - ds by Lemma 4.6 with R = R4. By Lemma 2.1(i), k2 = dfldR - k + cRRk + cRRk, which implies that k - 1 + dT + dS, a contradiction to dS + dT - k +1. We claim that cR^ - dT - 2. By the previous claim, for all zi, z2 G Twith zi = z2 we have (z1, z2) G R1. Thus, cRU* = |Ri(zi) n Ri(z2)| - |T4(y) - {zi, Z2}| - dT - 2. Since Cr1 Rt + cRRt - dT - 2 + dT - k by Lemma 4.6, it follows from Lemma 2.3(ii) that R = Ri. Thus, cRRt = k - 1 since 1 < dS and S4(y) U T4(y) \ {xi,x2} Ç R(xi) n R(x2) for xi,x2 G S4(y). Since {AX, R} is closed under the complex product, 1 + k divides |X|. Since |X| is a prime, it follows that {AX, R} = , and hence |RX | = 2, a contradiction. □ Lemma 4.8. Suppose that k = 4q for some prime power q and 1 G {ds | S G }. Then S1 =0, |Si| = 2, and {ds | S G Si} = {3q, q + 1}. Proof. By Lemma 4.2(iii) and the assumption, |S3| = 0. By Lemma 4.2(ii), |Si | < 2. Let S G Si. Then, by Lemma 4.1, dS = 1 mod q. By the assumption, 1 < dS < 4q. Since ds < dS1 < 1 + 4q Lemma 4.2(iii), it follows from Lemma 4.1 that ds G {q + 1, 3q + 1}. Let T G with S = T. Since dSdT = 0 mod 4q by Lemma 4.1, q | dT. Since m = 1 + k(r - 1) = dS1 + dS2 = dS + dT + k(r - 2), we have dS + dT = k + 1. Therefore, we conclude from Proposition 4.7 that {dS | S G Si} = {3q, q + 1}. □ Proof of Theorem 1.3. (i) is a direct consequence of Proposition 4.5. (ii) Suppose on the contrary that 1 G {ds | S gRx,y}. Note that e < 2 if k G {q, 2q, 3q} for some prime power q. By Lemma 4.2(iii), |S3| = 0, and dS1 < k + 1. Since 1 + k(r - 1) = ds1 + ds2 < k + 1 + ds2, we have dS2 - k(r - 2), and, hence, |S2| - r - 2. Suppose k = q. Then the statement follows from Lemma 4.2(iii) since e =1. 122 Ars Math. Contemp. 12 (2017) 111-126 Suppose k = 2q. Then |Si| < 2 and {ds | S G Si} = {q, q +1} by Lemma 4.2(ii),(iii) and Lemma 4.1. Without loss of generality we assume that Si = {S, T}, ds = q + 1 and dT = q. Since q and q +1 are relatively prime, it follows from Lemma 2.1(iii) that ST4 = {R} for some R gR, which contradicts Proposition 4.7. Suppose k = 3q. Then we have either {ds | S G Si} = {q, 2q + 1} or {ds | S G Si} = {2q, q + 1}. The first case is done by Proposition 4.7. For the last case we assume that Si = {S, T}, ds = q +1 and dT = 2q. By Lemma 2.1(i),(ii), SS4 = {AX,R} for some R G R with R = R4. This implies that k = dR is even since |X | is an odd prime, so q is a power of two. Thus, ds and dT are relatively prime. Therefore, the statement follows from Lemma 2.1(iii) and Proposition 4.7. (iii) Suppose k = 4q. Then, by Lemma 4.8, {ds | S G RX,Y} = {q, 3q + 1} or {ds | S G Rx,y} = {3q, q + 1}. The statement follows from the assumption and Proposition 4.7. □ 5 Appendix In this section we show how Theorem 1.3 is applied to small configurations CXUY with |X| = |Y| < 100. First, we denote by M the set of primes m less than 100. Second, we take the set K of positive integers k such that k | m — 1 for some m G M with k < m — 1 and k G {q, 2q, 3q | q is a prime power} U {4q | q is a prime power with 3 \ q +1}. Then K = {20,30, 35,44}. Lemma 5.1. If k = 20, then 1 G {ds | S G Rx,y}. Proof. Suppose not. By Lemma 4.8, {ds | S G Si} = {15,6}. Let S G Rx,y with ds = 6. By Lemma 2.1(ii), 6 | cfstk for R G SS1 \ {AX}. Thus, 3 | cRSt, which contradicts Lemma 2.1(ii). □ Lemma 5.2. Suppose that each element of RY = {AY, R, R'} is symmetric and nx = {C1, } is the equitable partition of (Y, RY) as in Section 2 for x G X .We define {ßij}i