Additivity of affine designs

Abstract

We show that any affine block design $$\mathcal{D}=(\mathcal{P},\mathcal{B})$$ is a subset of a suitable commutative group $${\mathfrak {G}}_\mathcal{D},$$ with the property that a k-subset of $$\mathcal{P}$$ is a block of $$\mathcal{D}$$ if and only if its k elements sum up to zero. As a consequence, the group of automorphisms of any affine design $$\mathcal{D}$$ is the group of automorphisms of $${\mathfrak {G}}_\mathcal{D}$$ that leave $$\mathcal P$$ invariant. Whenever k is a prime p, $${\mathfrak {G}}_\mathcal{D}$$ is an elementary abelian p-group.