Polyphase equiangular tight frames and abelian generalized quadrangles

Abstract: An equiangular tight frame (ETF) is a type of optimal packing of lines in a finite-dimensional Hilbert space. ETFs arise in various applications, such as waveform design for wireless communication, compressed sensing, quantum information theory and algebraic coding theory. In a paper, signature matrices of ETFs were constructed from abelian distance regular covers of complete graphs. We extend this work, constructing ETF synthesis operators from abelian generalized quadrangles, and vice versa. This produces a new infinite family of complex ETFs as well as a new proof of the existence of certain generalized quadrangles. This work involves designing matrices whose entries are polynomials over a finite abelian group. As such, it is related to the concept of a polyphase matrix of a finite filter bank.