Abstract
This paper investigates the decomposition of the -fold complete 3-uniform hypergraph  into 4-cycles, denoted as . Using the -structure as a model, we develop recursive construction techniques that exploit symmetric properties and provide explicit designs for small orders. These recursive frameworks enable the systematic generation of large-order hypergraph designs from smaller building blocks, illustrating the symmetric inheritance of structural properties. We establish that the necessary conditions for such a decomposition are also sufficient: an  exists if and only if  This result highlights the deep interplay between combinatorial design theory and symmetry in hypergraph decompositions.
    1. Introduction
A t-uniform hypergraph H is defined by a vertex set V and a collection E of t-element subsets of V, known as hyperedges. The order of H is given by . While 2-uniform hypergraphs correspond to ordinary graphs, the case  introduces richer structural complexity. The hypergraph  denotes the -fold complete t-uniform hypergraph on v vertices, where each t-subset appears exactly  times. When , the hypergraph is simple. Further information on hypergraphs can be found in [].
A decomposition of a graph G into subgraphs —denoted —occurs when the edge sets of the  partition the edges of G. If each  is isomorphic to a fixed graph H, we say G is H-decomposable. In particular, if H is an m-cycle , the decomposition is called a cycle decomposition []. A 2-hypercycle is known as a cycle or Berge cycle which was introduced by Berge [].
Extending these notions to hypergraphs, a decomposition of a t-uniform hypergraph  is a partition of E into sub-hypergraphs  such that
      
- ;
 - for .
 
Let X be a set of v points and K a set of positive integers. A t-wise balanced design (t-BD) of order v and index  is a pair , where X is a v-set and  is a family of blocks (subsets of X) such that every t-subset of X is contained in exactly  blocks. Such a design is denoted , where K is the set of allowable block sizes. When , we write . Special cases include Steiner triple systems  and Steiner quadruple systems , whose existence conditions are classical. An  is called a Steiner quadruple system of order v, denoted by . An  exists if and only if  [,]. An  is called a Steiner triple system of order v and denoted by . There exists an  if and only if  [].
A t-hypercycle decomposition of a t-uniform hypergraph H refers to a partition of its edge set into hypercycles. This concept naturally extends the classical notion of cycle decomposition from graphs to hypergraphs. For the graph case (), the problem of decomposing  into cycles of length m has been fully resolved for  and ; see references [,].
Let  be a collection of specific 3-uniform hypergraphs (particularly 4-cycles) that we aim to use in the decomposition of . In this work, we focus on decomposing  into 4-cycles of a specific type , leveraging tools from group-divisible designs and candelabra systems to construct such decompositions recursively.
A group-divisible t-design of order v with block sizes from a set K, denoted , is defined as a triple , satisfying the following conditions []:
- X is a set of v called points;
 - forms a partition of X into nonempty subsets called groups (or holes);
 - consists of blocks, each being a k-subset of X (with ) that intersects every group in at most one point (such a subset is called a k-transverse);
 - Every k-transverse of is contained in exactly one block.
 
The type of a  is the multiset of group sizes. If there are  groups of size  for , the type is denoted by . A  is said to be uniform if all groups have the same size. Note that a  of type  corresponds to an  design. When , we simplify the notation to .
While group-divisible 2-designs have been thoroughly studied [], we concentrate here on the case  and block size four. A  is also known as a transverse Steiner quadruple system [,]. A uniform  of type  is referred to as an  design. The existence spectrum for such H-designs has been established by Mills [] and Ji [,].
Let  be positive integers, and s be a non-negative integer. Let X be a set of  points, S be a partition of V into subsets of size s, called a stem, and  is a division of the . The elements in  are called groups;  is the vertex set defined in families of supergraphs on some subsets on X. Each hypergraph in  is isomorphic to a hypergraph in , and each hypergraph in  is called a block. A  is represented by an ordered quadruple , where for any t-subset T of X, if  for each i are established, then T is in exactly one block of ; otherwise, any t-subset of  is not contained in any block of . This candelabra system is denoted as .
From the definition of the  , it follows that if  is an  with , then for any , the quadruple , is a -design of type .
According to the definition of the Candelabra -design, we know that if  is an , where , then for any , the quadruple  is a -design of type . In the following construction,  stands for Candelabra System.
Table 1 provides the types of 4-cycles under isomorphism.
       
    
    Table 1.
    Types of 4-cycles defined on the set .
  
According to Table 1, , denoted as .
The hypergraph of  is taken as an example, as shown in Figure 1 below.
      
    
    Figure 1.
      -hypergraph.
  
Figure 1 illustrates the structure of the  hypergraph, containing the vertex set . The four hyperedges are represented in different colors:  (blue),  (orange),  (green), and  (yellow). Thick lines are used to connect vertices within the same hyperedge to visually display their composition.
Lemma 1  
([]). Let Γ be a collection of 3-uniform hypergraphs, and let . Let  be the number of hyperedges in J containing vertex x, and let  be the number of hyperedges in J containing both  and . The necessary conditions for the existence of an -design are as follows:
 ;
  where 
  where 
  where 
Lemma 2  
([]). When ,  and  a -design exists.
Lemma 3  
([]). The necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of a -design is , , , except for .
Lemma 4  
([]). For  and , a -design exists.
In this study, 2- denotes a frame group-divisible design with index 2, block sizes from the set , used for decomposing specific hypergraph structures, of type  (or ). For detailed definitions, see reference [].
Lemma 5.  
 For any  and , there exists a 2--design of type .
 For any  and , there exists a type 2--design of type .
Let ; for convenience, the design ,  is recorded as . The set of points among s is called the hole of this design.
Based on the lemma above, the following corollary can be proposed.
Corollary 1.  
The necessary conditions for the existence of an -design are
      
        
      
      
      
      
    and .
When  and v take different values, the sufficiency of -design can be discussed. The necessary conditions for the existence of -design can be divided and organized into the following three cases:
 ,  and  with ;
 ,  with ;
 , with .
2. Recursive Constructions
Construction 1.  
(1) Assume a group-divisible design  of type  is given.(2) If for every  there exists a  of type , then a  of type  exists.
Proof of Construction 1.  
Let  be a  of type , where  and .
For any , on the point set , the group formed by , , a  of type , and its block set is denoted as .
Let ,  Let , then  is a .
Therefore, the conclusion holds.
This completes the proof.    □
Construction 2.  
Assume there exists a -design of type ; if there exists a -design of type , then a -design of type  exists.
Proof of Construction 2.  
Let  be a -design of type , where . For any , construct a -design of type  on  with stem S and groups  and , and denote its block set as . Let , then  is a -design of type .
This completes the proof.    □
Construction 3.  
If there exists a -design of type , where , if
- (1)
 - For any , there exists a ;
 - (2)
 - And there exists an , then an -design exists.
 
Proof of Construction 3.  
Let  be a -design of type , for each group , and  of size ; then construct an -design with S as the hole on , and denote its block set as . For a group G of size , construct an -design on , and denote its block set as . Let , then  is an .
This completes the proof.    □
Construction 4.  
Let  be a -design of type , where , . If
- (1)
 - For each block A containing , there exists a -design of type ;
 - (2)
 - For each block A containing , there exists a -design of type ;
 - (3)
 - For each block A not containing , there exists a -design of type , then there exists a -design of type , where .
 
Proof of Construction 4  
For each block , when , on the point set , construct a -design of type , whose group set is , where  is its stem, and when , denote its block set as .
When , , construct a -design with type , whose group set is  on the point set , and denote its block set as .
When for any , , construct a -design with type , whose group set is  on the point set , and denote its block .
Let , and . Let . Let . It can be verified that  is a -design.
This completes the proof.    □
3. Some Small Orders
Lemma 6.  
For , there exists .
Proof.  
When , let . The base blocks are listed below. All other blocks are obtained by developing these base blocks by  modulo 5, where .
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
When , let . The base blocks are listed below. All other blocks are obtained by developing these base blocks by  modulo 7, where .
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
When , let . The base blocks are listed below. All other blocks are obtained by developing these base blocks by  modulo 10, where .
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
When , let . The base blocks are listed below. All other blocks are obtained by developing these base blocks by  modulo 10.
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
When , let . The base blocks are listed below. All other blocks are obtained by developing these base blocks by  modulo 11, where .
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
When , there exists a . Repeating the blocks of  three times yields .    □
Lemma 7.  
For , there exists .
Proof.  
When , let . The base blocks are listed below. All other blocks are obtained by developing these base blocks by  modulo 5.
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
When , there exists a . Repeating the blocks of  twice yields .
When , let . The base blocks are listed below. All other blocks are obtained by developing these base blocks by  modulo 13.
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
When , since , there exists an . Repeating the blocks of  twice yields , and thus,  certainly exists.    □
Lemma 8.  
There exists a  of type .
Proof.  
Let ; the base blocks are listed below. All other blocks are obtained by developing these base blocks by  modulo 8.
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
□
Lemma 9.  
There exists a  of type .
Proof.  
Let ; by Construction 1 and Lemma 8, there exists a  of type .    □
Lemma 10.  
There exists a  of type .
Proof.  
Let ; the base blocks are listed below. All other blocks are obtained by developing these base blocks by  modulo 8.
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
□
Lemma 11.  
There exists a  of type .
Proof.  
Let ; by Construction 1 and Lemma 10, there exists a  of type .    □
Lemma 12. 
There exists an .
Proof.  
When , let , the base blocks are listed below. All other blocks are obtained by developing these base blocks by  modulo 19, where .
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
□
Lemma 13.  
There exists  and , both of type .
Proof.  
From the literature [], it is known that there exists a -design of type . Therefore, by repeating the blocks of  twice, we obtain , and by repeating them 4 times, we obtain .    □
Lemma 14.  
There exists an .
Proof.  
When , let . The base blocks are listed below. All other blocks are obtained by developing these base blocks by  modulo 7.
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
□
Lemma 15.  
There exists an .
Proof.  
When , let . The base blocks are listed below. All other blocks are obtained by developing these base blocks by  modulo 11.
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
□
4. Conclusions
Theorem 1.  
If , , and  with , then there exists an .
Proof of Theorem 1.  
Prior results in [] establish the existence of an -design under the stated conditions. For any positive integer , repeating each block of the -design  times yields an -design.
This completes the proof.    □
Theorem 2.  
If ,  with , then there exists an .
Proof of Theorem 2.  
Let k be a positive integer. For , it is known that  is isomorphic to . To find the existence of , it suffices to find . The proof of the existence of -design is divided into the following cases:
 By Lemma 7, ,  exists.
 By Lemma 6, and ref. [], for , an -design exists. For any positive integer , repeating each block of the  -design  times yields an -design.
 For  and . By decomposition, the set .
When , an -design exists. For any positive integer , repeating each block of the -design  times yields an -design.
When  and , let , where  and . By Lemma 4, a -design exists. Using Construction , we can obtain a , and the required -design is obtained from Lemma 10. By Lemma 8, an -design exists; thus a -design of type  certainly exists, and using Construction 2, we can obtain a  of type . Finally, using Construction 3, we obtain an -design.
 For , by decomposition, the set , and .
When , an -design exists. For any positive integer , repeating each block of the -design  times yields an -design.
When  and , let , where  and . By Lemma 4, a -design exists. Using Construction , we can obtain a , and the required -design is obtained from Lemma 10. By Lemma 8, an -design exists, thus a -design of type  certainly exists, and using Construction 2, we can obtain a  of type . Finally, using Construction 3, we obtain an -design.
 For , by decomposition, the set , and .
When , an -design exists. For any positive integer , repeating each block of the -design  times yields an -design.
When  and , let , where  and . By Lemma 5, a 2--design of type  exists. Using Construction 4, we can obtain a -design of type , and the required -design is obtained from Lemma 3. Using Construction 1, we can obtain a -design, and the required  and  from Lemma 2 and Lemma 13. Finally, using Construction 3, we obtain an -design. Note the required  because the  and  of type  are present.
For any positive integer , repeating each block of the -design  times results in .
This completes the proof.    □
Theorem 3.  
If , , then there exists an .
Proof of Theorem 3.  
From Theorems 1 and 2, it is known that when  and  with , an -design exists; when  and , an -design exists, and if we repeat the blocks of  twice, we obtain an -design.
When , let . By Lemma 5, when  and , there exists a 2--design of type . Using Construction 4, we can obtain a -design of type , and the required -design of type  is obtained from Lemma 3. The required  is obtained from Construction 1, and finally, using Construction 3, we obtain an -design. Note that the required  is because the type  exists.
When , let . By Lemma 5, when  and , there exists a -design. Using Construction 1, we can obtain a -design, and the required -design is obtained from Lemma 10. Then, by Lemmas 14 and 15,  exist, and using Construction , we can obtain a -design of type . Finally, using Construction , we obtain an -design.
For any positive integer , repeating each block of the -design  times can result in .
This completes the proof.    □
Theorem 4.  
The existence of an -design is characterized by the following necessary and sufficient conditions:
      
        
      
      
      
      
    
Proof of Theorem 4.  
Corollary 1 provides the necessary conditions for the existence of an -design. Theorems 1–3 demonstrate the sufficiency of these conditions for the existence of an .
This completes the proof.    □
In this paper, we have completely solved the existence problem for decomposing the -fold complete 3-uniform hypergraph, , into 4-cycles of the specific type . We established that such a decomposition, denoted as -design, exists if and only if , , and .
This result was achieved through a combination of recursive constructions and direct computational methods for small orders. The recursive frameworks presented (Constructions 1–4) demonstrate how large, symmetric designs can be systematically built from smaller components, leveraging concepts from group-divisible designs and candelabra systems. This highlights a profound interplay between combinatorial design theory and symmetry.
The decomposition of hypergraphs into cycles—particularly into small, symmetric configurations such as 4-cycles—holds fundamental significance in combinatorial design theory and hypergraph theory. Such decompositions not only reveal profound structural symmetries within hypergraphs but also facilitate the construction of designs exhibiting desirable properties, including balance, regularity, and resolvability. As a minimal non-trivial cyclic structure in hypergraphs, the 4-cycle serves as an essential building block for more complex configurations and plays a pivotal role in understanding the combinatorial and algebraic properties of hypergraphs.
The significance of this work is multi-fold. Firstly, it answers a natural and fundamental question in hypergraph decomposition theory, a core area of combinatorics. Secondly, cycles are among the most fundamental sub-structures in graphs and hypergraphs. Understanding the conditions for their existence in decompositions provides crucial insights into the overall architecture of complex hypergraphs. Results like ours often serve as essential building blocks for more complex constructions, aid in solving edge-covering problems, and find applications in areas requiring symmetric partitioning of relational data, such as the design of efficient network codes or distributed storage systems. Finally, just as the analysis of topological indices in chemical graph theory [] relies on a deep understanding of molecular graph structure, the decomposition of hypergraphs into cycles provides a foundational toolkit for analyzing the properties and symmetries of higher-order networks.
Author Contributions
This paper has two authors: Y.L. and H.Z. Both authors have contributed to the conception or design of the work. The manuscript was drafted by Y.L., and both Y.L. and H.Z. critically revised it for substantial intellectual content. Both authors agree to take personal responsibility for their respective contributions and commit to ensuring that any issues related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work—even in aspects not directly participated in—are duly investigated, resolved, and documented in the literature. Conceptualization, Y.L. and H.Z.; Methodology, H.Z.; Validation, Y.L.; Formal Analysis, Y.L. and H.Z.; Investigation, Y.L.; Writing—Original Draft Preparation, Y.L.; Writing—Review and Editing, H.Z. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding
This research received no external funding.
Data Availability Statement
The original contributions presented in this study are included in the article. Further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.
Acknowledgments
We have reviewed and edited the output and take full responsibility for the content of this publication.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
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