Existence of magic rectangle sets over finite abelian groups

Abstract

Let $a$, $b$ and $c$ be positive integers. Let $(G,+)$ be a finite abelian group of order $abc$. A $G$-magic rectangle set MRS${}_G(a,b;c)$ is a collection of $c$ arrays of size $a\times b$ whose entries are elements of a group $G$, each appearing exactly once, such that the sum of each row in every array equals a constant ${\hat{I}}^3\in G$ and the sum of each column in every array equals a constant $\hat{I}´\in G$. This paper establishes the necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of an MRS${}_G(a,b;c)$ for any finite abelian group $G$, thereby confirming a conjecture presented by Cichacz and Hinc.

14 pages