Characterization Tensors of Balanced Incomplete Block Designs

Abstract: Balanced incomplete block designs (BIBDs) have wide applications in engineering, business and sciences. In this paper, for each (v, k, \lambda)-BIBD, we construct a strongly symmetric k-th order v-dimensional tensor. We call such a strongly symmetric tensor the characterization tensor of that BIBD, and the absolute value tensor of the characterization tensor the signless characterization tensor of that BIBD. We study some spectral properties of such characterization tensors and signless characterization tensors. In this way, we provide a new tool to study BIBDs.