Quadratic residue codes, rank three groups and PBIBDs

Abstract

The automorphism group of the Zetterberg code Z of length 17 (also a quadratic residue code) is a rank three group whose orbits on the coordinate pairs determine two strongly regular graphs equivalent to the Paley graph attached to the prime 17. As a consequence, codewords of a given weight of Z are the characteristic vectors of the blocks of a PBIBD with two associate classes of cyclic type. More generally, this construction of PBIBDs is extended to quadratic residue codes of length ≡ 1 (mod 8), to the adjacency codes of triangular and lattice graphs, and to the adjacency codes of various rank three graphs. A remarkable fact is the existence of 2-designs held by the quadratic residue code of length 41 for code weights 9 and 10.