Hadamard partitioned difference families and their descendants

Abstract

If $D$ is a $(4u^2,2u^2-u,u^2-u)$ Hadamard difference set (HDS) in $G$, then $\{G,G\setminus D\}$ is clearly a $(4u^2,[2u^2-u,2u^2+u],2u^2)$ partitioned difference family (PDF). Any $(v,K,\lambda )$-PDF will be said of Hadamard-type if $v=2\lambda$ as the one above. We present a doubling construction which, starting from any such PDF, leads to an infinite class of PDFs. As a special consequence, we get a PDF in a group of order $4u^2(2n+1)$ and three block-sizes $4u^2-2u$, $4u^2$ and $4u^2+2u$, whenever we have a $(4u^2,2u^2-u,u^2-u)$-HDS and the maximal prime power divisors of $2n+1$ are all greater than $4u^2+2u$.