The existence of resolvable Steiner quadruple systems

Abstract

A Steiner quadruple system of order v is a set X of cardinality v, and a set Q, of 4-subsets of X, called blocks, with the property that every 3-subset of X is contained in a unique block. A Steiner quadruple system is resolvable if Q can be partitioned into parallel classes (partitions of X). A necessary condition for the existence of a resolvable Steiner quadruple system is that v≡4 or 8 (mod 12). In this paper we show that this condition is also sufficient for all values of v, with 24 possible exceptions. © 1987.