The geometric reason for the non-existence of a MOL(6)

The problem of Euler concerning the 36 officers, (Euler, in Leonardi Euleri Opera Ser I 7:291–392, 1782), was first solved by Tarry (Comptes rendus Ass Franc Sci Nat 1 (1900) 2:170–203, 1901). Short proofs for the non-existence were given in Betten (Unterricht 36:449–453, 1983), Beth et al. (Design Theory, Bibl. Inst. Mannheim, Wien, Zürich, 1985), Stinson (J Comb Theory A 36:373–376, 1984). This problem is equivalent to the existence of a MOL(6), i. e., a pair of mutually orthogonal latin squares of order 6. Therefore in Betten (Mitt Math Ges Hamburg 39:59–76, 2019; Res Math 76:9, 2021; Algebra Geom 62:815–821, 2021) the structure of a (hypothetical) MOL(6) was studied. Now we combine the old proofs and the new studies and filter out a simple way for the proof of non-existence. The aim is not only to give still other short proofs, but to analyse the problem and reveal the geometric reason for the non-existence of a MOL(6)- and the non-solvability of Euler’s problem.

Diagonal groups and arcs over groups

In an earlier paper by three of the present authors and Csaba Schneider, it was shown that, for $$m\ge 2$$ m ≥ 2 , a set of $$m+1$$ m + 1 partitions of a set $$\Omega $$ Ω , any m of which are the minimal non-trivial elements of a Cartesian lattice, either form a Latin square (if $$m=2$$ m = 2 ), or generate a join-semilattice of dimension m associated with a diagonal group over a base group G. In this paper we investigate what happens if we have $$m+r$$ m + r partitions with $$r\ge 2$$ r ≥ 2 , any m of which are minimal elements of a Cartesian lattice. If $$m=2$$ m = 2 , this is just a set of mutually orthogonal Latin squares. We consider the case where all these squares are isotopic to Cayley tables of groups, and give an example to show the groups need not be all isomorphic. For $$m>2$$ m > 2 , things are more restricted. Any $$m+1$$ m + 1 of the partitions generate a join-semilattice admitting a diagonal group over a group G. It may be that the groups are all isomorphic, though we cannot prove this. Under an extra hypothesis, we show that G must be abelian and must have three fixed-point-free automorphisms whose product is the identity. (We describe explicitly all abelian groups having such automorphisms.) Under this hypothesis, the structure gives an orthogonal array, and conversely in some cases. If the group is cyclic of prime order p, then the structure corresponds exactly to an arc of cardinality $$m+r$$ m + r in the $$(m-1)$$ ( m - 1 ) -dimensional projective space over the field with p elements, so all known results about arcs are applicable. More generally, arcs over a finite field of order q give examples where G is the elementary abelian group of order q. These examples can be lifted to non-elementary abelian groups using p-adic techniques.

Pseudo orthogonal Latin squares

Two Latin squares A, B of order n are called pseudo orthogonal if for any 1 ≤ i, j ≤ n there exists a k, 1 ≤ k ≤ n, such that A(i, k) = B(j, k). We prove that the existence of a family of m mutually pseudo orthogonal Latin squares of order n is equivalent to the existence of a family of m mutually orthogonal Latin squares of order n. We also obtain exact values of clique partition numbers of several classes of complete multipartite graphs and of the tensor product of complete graphs.

On Graph-Orthogonal Arrays by Mutually Orthogonal Graph Squares

During the last two centuries, after the question asked by Euler concerning mutually orthogonal Latin squares (MOLS), essential advances have been made. MOLS are considered as a construction tool for orthogonal arrays. Although Latin squares have numerous helpful properties, for some factual applications these structures are excessively prohibitive. The more general concepts of graph squares and mutually orthogonal graph squares (MOGS) offer more flexibility. MOGS generalize MOLS in an interesting way. As such, the topic is attractive. Orthogonal arrays are essential in statistics and are related to finite fields, geometry, combinatorics and error-correcting codes. Furthermore, they are used in cryptography and computer science. In this paper, our current efforts have concentrated on the definition of the graph-orthogonal arrays and on proving that if there are k MOGS of order n, then there is a graph-orthogonal array, and we denote this array by G-OA(n2,k,n,2). In addition, several new results for the orthogonal arrays obtained from the MOGS are given. Furthermore, we introduce a recursive construction method for constructing the graph-orthogonal arrays.

Infinite Latin Squares: Neighbor Balance and Orthogonality

Regarding neighbor balance, we consider natural generalizations of $D$-complete Latin squares and Vatican squares from the finite to the infinite. We show that if $G$ is an infinite abelian group with $|G|$-many square elements, then it is possible to permute the rows and columns of the Cayley table to create an infinite Vatican square. We also construct a Vatican square of any given infinite order that is not obtainable by permuting the rows and columns of a Cayley table. Regarding orthogonality, we show that every infinite group $G$ has a set of $|G|$ mutually orthogonal orthomorphisms and hence there is a set of $|G|$ mutually orthogonal Latin squares based on $G$. We show that an infinite group $G$ with $|G|$-many square elements has a strong complete mapping; and, with some possible exceptions, infinite abelian groups have a strong complete mapping.

Enumerating extensions of mutually orthogonal Latin squares

Two $$n \times n$$ n × n Latin squares $$L_1, L_2$$ L 1 , L 2 are said to be orthogonal if, for every ordered pair (x, y) of symbols, there are coordinates (i, j) such that $$L_1(i,j) = x$$ L 1 ( i , j ) = x and $$L_2(i,j) = y$$ L 2 ( i , j ) = y . A k-MOLS is a sequence of k pairwise-orthogonal Latin squares, and the existence and enumeration of these objects has attracted a great deal of attention. Recent work of Keevash and Luria provides, for all fixed k, log-asymptotically tight bounds on the number of k-MOLS. To study the situation when k grows with n, we bound the number of ways a k-MOLS can be extended to a $$(k+1)$$ ( k + 1 ) -MOLS. These bounds are again tight for constant k, and allow us to deduce upper bounds on the total number of k-MOLS for all k. These bounds are close to tight even for k linear in n, and readily generalise to the broader class of gerechte designs, which include Sudoku squares.