A large family of cospectral Cayley graphs over dicyclic groups

For a finite group G and an inverse closed subset $S\subseteq G\setminus \{e\}$, the Cayley graph $X(G,S)$ has vertex set G and two vertices $x,y\in G$ are adjacent if and only if $x{y}^{-1}\in S$. Two graphs are called cospectral if their adjacency matrices have the same spectrum. Let $p\ge 3$ be a prime number and $T_{4p}$ be the dicyclic group of order 4p. In this paper, with the help of the characters from representation theory, we construct a large family of pairwise non-isomorphic and cospectral Cayley graphs over the dicyclic group $T_{4p}$ with $p\ge 23$, and find several pairs of non-isomorphic and cospectral Cayley graphs for $5\le p\le 19$.     

An infinite family of cubic nonnormal Cayley graphs on nonabelian simple groups

We construct a connected cubic nonnormal Cayley graph on ${\mathrm{A}}_{2^m?1}$ for each integer $m?4$ and determine its full automorphism group. This is the first infinite family of connected cubic nonnormal Cayley graphs on nonabelian simple groups.     

Normal and non-normal Cayley graphs for symmetric groups

A Cayley graph is said to be an NNN-graph if its automorphism group contains two isomorphic regular subgroups where one is normal and the other is non-normal. In this paper, we show that there exist NNN-graphs among the Cayley graphs for symmetric groups $S_n$ if and only if $n?5$.     

Planarity of Cayley graphs of graph products of groups

We obtain a complete classification of graph products of finite abelian groups whose Cayley graphs with respect to the standard presentations are planar.     

On automorphism groups of quasiprimitive 2-arc transitive graphs

We characterize the automorphism groups of quasiprimitive 2-arc-transitive graphs of twisted wreath product type. This is a partial solution for a problem of Praeger regarding quasiprimitive 2-arc transitive graphs. The solution stimulates several further research problems regarding automorphism groups of edge-transitive Cayley graphs and digraphs. This work forms part of an ARC grant project and is supported by a QEII Fellowship.     

Operator decomposition of graphs and the reconstruction conjecture

We present the method of proving the reconstructibility of graph classes based on the new type of decomposition of graphs — the operator decomposition. The properties of this decomposition are described. Using this decomposition we prove the following. Let P and Q be two hereditary graph classes such that P is closed with respect to the operation of join and Q is closed with respect to the operation of disjoint union. Let M be a module of graph G with associated partition (A,B,M), where A∼M and B⁄∼M, such that G[A]∈P, G[B]∈Q and G[M] is not (P,Q)-split. Then the graph G is reconstructible.     

On the extendability of certain semi-Cayley graphs of finite abelian groups

A connected graph Γ with at least 2n+2 vertices is said to be n-extendable if every matching of size n in Γ can be extended to a perfect matching. The aim of this paper is to study the 1-extendability and 2-extendability of certain semi-Cayley graphs of finite abelian groups, and the classification of connected 2-extendable semi-Cayley graphs of finite abelian groups is given. Thus the 1-extendability and 2-extendability of Cayley graphs of non-abelian groups which can be realized as such semi-Cayley graphs of abelian groups can be deduced. In particular, the 1-extendability and 2-extendability of connected Cayley graphs of generalized dicyclic groups and generalized dihedral groups are characterized.     

Equality of Lifshitz and van Hove exponents on amenable Cayley graphs

We study the low energy asymptotics of periodic and random Laplace operators on Cayley graphs of amenable, finitely generated groups. For the periodic operator the asymptotics is characterised by the van Hove exponent or zeroth Novikov–Shubin invariant. The random model we consider is given in terms of an adjacency Laplacian on site or edge percolation subgraphs of the Cayley graph. The asymptotic behaviour of the spectral distribution is exponential, characterised by the Lifshitz exponent. We show that for the adjacency Laplacian the two invariants/exponents coincide. The result holds also for more general symmetric transition operators. For combinatorial Laplacians one has a different universal behaviour of the low energy asymptotics of the spectral distribution function, which can be actually established on quasi-transitive graphs without an amenability assumption. The latter result holds also for long range bond percolation models.     

On the girth of random Cayley graphs

We prove that random d‐regular Cayley graphs of the symmetric group asymptotically almost surely have girth at least (log_d‐1|G|)^1/2/2 and that random d‐regular Cayley graphs of simple algebraic groups over ??_q asymptotically almost surely have girth at least log _d‐1|G|/dim(G). For the symmetric p‐groups the girth is between loglog |G| and (log |G|)^α with α < 1. Several conjectures and open questions are presented. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Random Struct. Alg., 2009     

Expansion properties of random Cayley graphs and vertex transitive graphs via matrix martingales

The Alon–Roichman theorem states that for every ε> 0 there is a constant c(ε), such that the Cayley graph of a finite group G with respect to c(ε)log ∣G∣ elements of G, chosen independently and uniformly at random, has expected second largest eigenvalue less than ε. In particular, such a graph is an expander with high probability. Landau and Russell, and independently Loh and Schulman, improved the bounds of the theorem. Following Landau and Russell we give a new proof of the result, improving the bounds even further. When considered for a general group G, our bounds are in a sense best possible. We also give a generalization of the Alon–Roichman theorem to random coset graphs. Our proof uses a Hoeffding‐type result for operator valued random variables, which we believe can be of independent interest. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Random Struct. Alg., 2008     

Vertex reconstruction in Cayley graphs

In this survey paper we review recent results on the vertex reconstruction problem (which is not related to Ulam’s problem) in Cayley graphs. The problem of reconstructing an arbitrary vertex x from its r-neighbors, that are, vertices at distance at most r from x, consists of finding the minimum restrictions on the number of r-neighbors when such a reconstruction is possible. We discuss general results for simple, regular and Cayley graphs. To solve this problem for given Cayley graphs, it is essential to investigate their structural and combinatorial properties. We present such properties for Cayley graphs on the symmetric group and the hyperoctahedral group (the group of signed permutations) and overview the main results for them. The choice of generating sets for these graphs is motivated by applications in coding theory, computer science, molecular biology and physics.     

Edge-forwarding index of star graphs and other Cayley graphs

We present a technique for building, in some Cayley graphs, a routing for which the load of every edge is almost the same. This technique enables us to find the edge-forwarding index of star graphs and complete-transposition graphs.     

Induced embeddings in Steinhaus graphs

Fix any positive integer n. Let S be the set of all Steinhaus graphs of order n(n − 1)/2 + 1. The vertices for each graph in S are the first n(n − 1)/2 + 1 positive integers. Let I be the set of all labeled graphs of order n with vertices of the form i(i − 1)/2 + 1 for the first n positive integers i. This article shows that the function ϕ : S → I that maps a Steinhaus graph to its induced subgraph is a bijection. Therefore, any graph of order n is isomorphic to an induced subgraph of a Steinhaus graph of order n(n − 1)/2 + 1. This considerably tightens a result of Brigham, Carrington, and Dutton in [Brigham, Carrington, & Dutton, Combin. Inform. System Sci. 17 (1992)], which showed that this could be done with a Steinhaus graph of order 2ⁿ⁻¹. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J. Graph Theory 29: 1–9, 1998     

Free groups and ends of graphs

Let X be a connected graph. An automorphism of X is said to be parabolic if it leaves no finite subset of vertices in X invariant and fixes precisely one end of X and hyperbolic if it leaves no finite subset of vertices in X invariant and fixes precisely two ends of X. Various questions concerning dynamics of parabolic and hyperbolic automorphisms are discussed.The set of ends which are fixed by some hyperbolic element of a group G acting on X is denoted by ?(G). If G contains a hyperbolic automorphism of X and G fixes no end of X, then G contains a free subgroup F such that ?(F) is dense in ?(G) with respect to the natural topology on the ends of X.As an application we obtain the following: A group which acts transitively on a connected graph and fixes no end has a free subgroup whose directions are dense in the end boundary.     

On computing the distinguishing and distinguishing chromatic numbers of interval graphs and other results

A vertex k-coloring of graph G is distinguishing if the only automorphism of G that preserves the colors is the identity map. It is proper-distinguishing if the coloring is both proper and distinguishing. The distinguishing number ofG, D(G), is the smallest integer k so that G has a distinguishing k-coloring; the distinguishing chromatic number ofG, χ_D(G), is defined similarly.It has been shown recently that the distinguishing number of a planar graph can be determined efficiently by counting a related parameter-the number of inequivalent distinguishing colorings of the graph. In this paper, we demonstrate that the same technique can be used to compute the distinguishing number and the distinguishing chromatic number of an interval graph. We make use of PQ-trees, a classic data structure that has been used to recognize and test the isomorphism of interval graphs; our algorithms run in O(n³log³n) time for graphs with n vertices. We also prove a number of results regarding the computational complexity of determining a graph’s distinguishing chromatic number.     

Nowhere‐zero 3‐flows in products of graphs

A graph G is an odd‐circuit tree if every block of G is an odd length circuit. It is proved in this paper that the product of every pair of graphs G and H admits a nowhere‐zero 3‐flow unless G is an odd‐circuit tree and H has a bridge. This theorem is a partial result to the Tutte's 3‐flow conjecture and generalizes a result by Imrich and Skrekovski [7] that the product of two bipartite graphs admits a nowhere‐zero 3‐flow. A byproduct of this theorem is that every bridgeless Cayley graph G = Cay(Γ,S) on an abelian group Γ with a minimal generating set S admits a nowhere‐zero 3‐flow except for odd prisms. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory