Approximation of integration over finite groups, difference sets and association schemes

Abstract

Let $G$ be a finite group and $f:G \to {\mathbb C}$ be a function. For a non-empty finite subset $Y\subset G$, let $I_Y(f)$ denote the average of $f$ over $Y$. Then, $I_G(f)$ is the average of $f$ over $G$. Using the decomposition of $f$ into irreducible components of ${\mathbb C}^G$ as a representation of $G\times G$, we define non-negative real numbers $V(f)$ and $D(Y)$, each depending only on $f$, $Y$, respectively, such that an inequality of the form $|I_G(f)-I_Y(f)|\leq V(f)\cdot D(Y)$ holds. We give a lower bound of $D(Y)$ depending only on $\#Y$ and $\#G$. We show that the lower bound is achieved if and only if $\#\{(x,y)\in Y^2 \mid x^{-1}y \in [a]\}/\#[a]$ is independent of the choice of the conjugacy class $[a]\subset G$ for $a \neq 1$. We call such a $Y\subset G$ as a pre-difference set in $G$, since the condition is satisfied if $Y$ is a difference set. If $G$ is abelian, the condition is equivalent to that $Y$ is a difference set. We found a non-trivial pre-difference set in the dihedral group of order 16, where no non-trivial difference set exists. The pre-difference sets in non-abelian groups of order 16 are classified. A generalization to commutative association schemes is also given.