Semi‐transitive graphs

In this paper, we first consider graphs allowing symmetry groups which act transitively on edges but not on darts (directed edges). We see that there are two ways in which this can happen and we introduce the terms bi‐transitive and semi‐transitive to describe them. We examine the elementary implications of each condition and consider families of examples; primary among these are the semi‐transitive spider‐graphs PS(k,N;r) and MPS(k,N;r). We show how a product operation can be used to produce larger graphs of each type from smaller ones. We introduce the alternet of a directed graph. This links the two conditions, for each alternet of a semi‐transitive graph (if it has more than one) is a bi‐transitive graph. We show how the alternets can be used to understand the structure of a semi‐transitive graph, and that the action of the group on the set of alternets can be an interesting structure in its own right. We use alternets to define the attachment number of the graph, and the important special cases of tightly attached and loosely attached graphs. In the case of tightly attached graphs, we show an addressing scheme to describe the graph with coordinates. Finally, we use the addressing scheme to complete the classification of tightly attached semi‐transitive graphs of degree 4 begun by Marus?ic? and Praeger. This classification shows that nearly all such graphs are spider‐graphs. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 45: 1–27, 2004     

On cubic non‐Cayley vertex‐transitive graphs

In 1983, the second author [D. Maru?i?, Ars Combinatoria 16B (1983), 297–302] asked for which positive integers n there exists a non‐Cayley vertex‐transitive graph on n vertices. (The term non‐Cayley numbers has later been given to such integers.) Motivated by this problem, Feng [Discrete Math 248 (2002), 265–269] asked to determine the smallest valency ?(n) among valencies of non‐Cayley vertex‐transitive graphs of order n. As cycles are clearly Cayley graphs, ?(n)?3 for any non‐Cayley number n. In this paper a goal is set to determine those non‐Cayley numbers n for which ?(n) = 3, and among the latter to determine those for which the generalized Petersen graphs are the only non‐Cayley vertex‐transitive graphs of order n. It is known that for a prime p every vertex‐transitive graph of order p, p² or p³ is a Cayley graph, and that, with the exception of the Coxeter graph, every cubic non‐Cayley vertex‐transitive graph of order 2p, 4p or 2p² is a generalized Petersen graph. In this paper the next natural step is taken by proving that every cubic non‐Cayley vertex‐transitive graph of order 4p², p>7 a prime, is a generalized Petersen graph. In addition, cubic non‐Cayley vertex‐transitive graphs of order 2p^k, where p>7 is a prime and k?p, are characterized. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 69: 77–95, 2012     

Tetravalent half‐edge‐transitive graphs and non‐normal Cayley graphs

Let X be a vertex‐transitive graph, that is, the automorphism group Aut(X) of X is transitive on the vertex set of X. The graph X is said to be symmetric if Aut(X) is transitive on the arc set of X. suppose that Aut(X) has two orbits of the same length on the arc set of X. Then X is said to be half‐arc‐transitive or half‐edge‐transitive if Aut(X) has one or two orbits on the edge set of X, respectively. Stabilizers of symmetric and half‐arc‐transitive graphs have been investigated by many authors. For example, see Tutte [Canad J Math 11 (1959), 621–624] and Conder and Maru?i? [J Combin Theory Ser B 88 (2003), 67–76]. It is trivial to construct connected tetravalent symmetric graphs with arbitrarily large stabilizers, and by Maru?i? [Discrete Math 299 (2005), 180–193], connected tetravalent half‐arc‐transitive graphs can have arbitrarily large stabilizers. In this article, we show that connected tetravalent half‐edge‐transitive graphs can also have arbitrarily large stabilizers. A Cayley graph Cay(G, S) on a group G is said to be normal if the right regular representation R(G) of G is normal in Aut(Cay(G, S)). There are only a few known examples of connected tetravalent non‐normal Cayley graphs on non‐abelian simple groups. In this article, we give a sufficient condition for non‐normal Cayley graphs and by using the condition, infinitely many connected tetravalent non‐normal Cayley graphs are constructed. As an application, all connected tetravalent non‐normal Cayley graphs on the alternating group A₆ are determined. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory     

Locally s‐distance transitive graphs

We give a unified approach to analyzing, for each positive integer s, a class of finite connected graphs that contains all the distance transitive graphs as well as the locally s‐arc transitive graphs of diameter at least s. A graph is in the class if it is connected and if, for each vertex v, the subgroup of automorphisms fixing v acts transitively on the set of vertices at distance i from v, for each i from 1 to s. We prove that this class is closed under forming normal quotients. Several graphs in the class are designated as degenerate, and a nondegenerate graph in the class is called basic if all its nontrivial normal quotients are degenerate. We prove that, for s≥2, a nondegenerate, nonbasic graph in the class is either a complete multipartite graph or a normal cover of a basic graph. We prove further that, apart from the complete bipartite graphs, each basic graph admits a faithful quasiprimitive action on each of its (1 or 2) vertex‐orbits or a biquasiprimitive action. These results invite detailed additional analysis of the basic graphs using the theory of quasiprimitive permutation groups. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 69:176‐197, 2012     

Tetravalent vertex‐transitive graphs of order 4p

A graph is vertex‐transitive if its automorphism group acts transitively on vertices of the graph. A vertex‐transitive graph is a Cayley graph if its automorphism group contains a subgroup acting regularly on its vertices. In this article, the tetravalent vertex‐transitive non‐Cayley graphs of order 4p are classified for each prime p. As a result, there are one sporadic and five infinite families of such graphs, of which the sporadic one has order 20, and one infinite family exists for every prime p>3, two families exist if and only if p≡1 (mod 8) and the other two families exist if and only if p≡1 (mod 4). For each family there is a unique graph for a given order. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Stability of arc‐transitive graphs

The present paper investigates arc‐transtive graphs in terms of their stability, and shows, somewhat contrary to expectations, that the property of instability is not as rare as previously thought. Until quite recently, the only known example of a finite, arc‐transitive vertex‐determining unstable graph was the underlying graph of the dodecahedron. This paper illustrates some methods for constructing finite arc‐transitive unstable graphs, and three infinite families of such graphs are given as applications. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Graph Theory 38: 95–110, 2001     

A class of symmetric graphs with 2‐arc transitive quotients

Let Γ be an X‐symmetric graph admitting an X‐invariant partition ?? on V(Γ) such that Γ_?? is connected and (X, 2)‐arc transitive. A characterization of (Γ, X, ??) was given in [S. Zhou Eur J Comb 23 (2002), 741–760] for the case where |B|>|Γ(C)∩B|=2 for an arc (B, C) of Γ_??.We con‐sider in this article the case where |B|>|Γ(C)∩B|=3, and prove that Γ can be constructed from a 2‐arc transitive graph of valency 4 or 7 unless its connected components are isomorphic to 3 K ₂, C ₆ or K _{3, 3}. As a byproduct, we prove that each connected tetravalent (X, 2)‐transitive graph is either the complete graph K ₅ or a near n‐gonal graph for some n?4. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 65: 232–245, 2010     

Characterization of edge‐transitive 4‐valent bicirculants

A bicirculant is a graph admitting an automorphism with exactly two vertex‐orbits of equal size. All non‐isomorphic 4‐valent edge‐transitive bicirculants are characterized in this article. As a corollary, a characterization of 4‐valent arc‐transitive dihedrants is obtained. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory.     

An infinite series of regular edge‐ but not vertex‐transitive graphs

Let n be an integer and q be a prime power. Then for any 3 ≤ n ≤ q?1, or n=2 and q odd, we construct a connected q‐regular edge‐but not vertex‐transitive graph of order 2qⁿ⁺¹. This graph is defined via a system of equations over the finite field of q elements. For n=2 and q=3, our graph is isomorphic to the Gray graph. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 41: 249–258, 2002     

3‐Factor‐Criticality of Vertex‐Transitive Graphs

A graph of order n is p ‐factor‐critical, where p is an integer of the same parity as n, if the removal of any set of p vertices results in a graph with a perfect matching. 1‐factor‐critical graphs and 2‐factor‐critical graphs are factor‐critical graphs and bicritical graphs, respectively. It is well known that every connected vertex‐transitive graph of odd order is factor‐critical and every connected nonbipartite vertex‐transitive graph of even order is bicritical. In this article, we show that a simple connected vertex‐transitive graph of odd order at least five is 3‐factor‐critical if and only if it is not a cycle.     

Realizing finite edge‐transitive orientable maps

J.E. Graver and M.E. Watkins, Memoirs Am. Math. Soc. 126 (601) ( 5 ) established that the automorphism group of an edge‐transitive, locally finite map manifests one of exactly 14 algebraically consistent combinations (called types) of the kinds of stabilizers of its edges, its vertices, its faces, and its Petrie walks. Exactly eight of these types are realized by infinite, locally finite maps in the plane. H.S.M. Coxeter (Regular Polytopes, 2nd ed., McMillan, New York, 1963) had previously observed that the nine finite edge‐transitive planar maps realize three of the eight planar types. In the present work, we show that for each of the 14 types and each integer n ≥ 11 such that n ≡ 3,11 (mod 12), there exist finite, orientable, edge‐transitive maps whose various stabilizers conform to the given type and whose automorphism groups are (abstractly) isomorphic to the symmetric group Sym(n). Exactly seven of these types (not a subset of the planar eight) are shown to admit infinite families of finite, edge‐transitive maps on the torus, and their automorphism groups are determined explicitly. Thus all finite, edge‐transitive toroidal maps are classified according to this schema. Finally, it is shown that exactly one of the 14 types can be realized as an abelian group of an edge‐transitive map, namely, as ?_n × ?₂ where n ≡ 2 (mod 4). © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Graph Theory 37: 1–34, 2001     

Cubic vertex‐transitive graphs of order 2pq

A graph is vertex?transitive or symmetric if its automorphism group acts transitively on vertices or ordered adjacent pairs of vertices of the graph, respectively. Let G be a finite group and S a subset of G such that 1?S and S={s^?1 | s∈S}. The Cayleygraph Cay(G, S) on G with respect to S is defined as the graph with vertex set G and edge set {{g, sg} | g∈G, s∈S}. Feng and Kwak [J Combin Theory B 97 (2007), 627–646; J Austral Math Soc 81 (2006), 153–164] classified all cubic symmetric graphs of order 4p or 2p² and in this article we classify all cubic symmetric graphs of order 2pq, where p and q are distinct odd primes. Furthermore, a classification of all cubic vertex‐transitive non‐Cayley graphs of order 2pq, which were investigated extensively in the literature, is given. As a result, among others, a classification of cubic vertex‐transitive graphs of order 2pq can be deduced. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 65: 285–302, 2010     

Half‐transitive graphs of valency 4 with prescribed attachment numbers

A graph X is said to be ½‐transitive if its automorphism group Aut X acts vertex‐ and edge‐, but not arc‐transitively on X. Then Aut X induces an orientation of the edges of X. If X has valency 4, then this orientation gives rise to so‐called alternating cycles, that is even length cycles in X whose every other vertex is the head and every other vertex is the tail of its two incident edges in the above orientation. All alternating cycles have the same length 2r(X), where r(X) is the radius of X, and any two adjacent alternating cycles intersect in the same number of vertices, called the attachment number a(X) of X. All known examples of ½‐transitive graphs have attachment number 1, r or 2r, where r is the radius of the graph. In this article, we construct ½‐transitive graphs with all other possible attachment numbers. The case of attachment number 2 is dealt with in more detail. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Graph Theory 34: 89–99, 2000     

Independent sets of maximal size in tensor powers of vertex‐transitive graphs

Let G be a connected, nonbipartite vertex‐transitive graph. We prove that if the only independent sets of maximal cardinality in the tensor product G × G are the preimages of the independent sets of maximal cardinality in G under projections, then the same holds for all finite tensor powers of G, thus providing an affirmative answer to a question raised by Larose and Tardif (J Graph Theory 40(3) (2002), 162–171). © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 60: 295‐301, 2009     

Doubly transitive 2‐factorizations

Let be a 2‐factorization of the complete graph K_v admitting an automorphism group G acting doubly transitively on the set of vertices. The vertex‐set V(K_v) can then be identified with the point‐set of AG(n, p) and each 2‐factor of is the union of p‐cycles which are obtained from a parallel class of lines of AG(n, p) in a suitable manner, the group G being a subgroup of A G L(n, p) in this case. The proof relies on the classification of 2‐(v, k, 1) designs admitting a doubly transitive automorphism group. The same conclusion holds even if G is only assumed to act doubly homogeneously. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Combin Designs     

On Finite 2‐Path‐Transitive Graphs

The class of graphs that are 2‐path‐transitive but not 2‐arc‐transitive is investigated. The amalgams for such graphs are determined, and structural information regarding the full automorphism groups is given. It is then proved that a graph is 2‐path‐transitive but not 2‐arc‐transitive if and only if its line graph is half‐arc‐transitive, thus providing a method for constructing new families of half‐arc‐transitive graphs. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Graph Theory 73: 225–237, 2013     

Vertex‐transitive graphs that remain connected after failure of a vertex and its neighbors

A d‐regular graph is said to be superconnected if any disconnecting subset with cardinality at most d is formed by the neighbors of some vertex. A superconnected graph that remains connected after the failure of a vertex and its neighbors will be called vosperian. Let Γ be a vertex‐transitive graph of degree d with order at least d+4. We give necessary and sufficient conditions for the vosperianity of Γ. Moreover, assuming that distinct vertices have distinct neighbors, we show that Γ is vosperian if and only if it is superconnected. Let G be a group and let S?G\{1} with S=S^?1. We show that the Cayley graph, Cay(G, S), defined on G by S is vosperian if and only if G\(S∪{1}) is not a progression and for every non‐trivial subgroup H and every a∈G, If moreover S is aperiodic, then Cay(G, S) is vosperian if and only if it is superconnected. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 67:124‐138, 2011     

On tree‐decompositions of one‐ended graphs

A graph is one‐ended if it contains a ray (a one way infinite path) and whenever we remove a finite number of vertices from the graph then what remains has only one component which contains rays. A vertex v dominates a ray in the end if there are infinitely many paths connecting v to the ray such that any two of these paths have only the vertex v in common. We prove that if a one‐ended graph contains no ray which is dominated by a vertex and no infinite family of pairwise disjoint rays, then it has a tree‐decomposition such that the decomposition tree is one‐ended and the tree‐decomposition is invariant under the group of automorphisms. This can be applied to prove a conjecture of Halin from 2000 that the automorphism group of such a graph cannot be countably infinite and solves a recent problem of Boutin and Imrich. Furthermore, it implies that every transitive one‐ended graph contains an infinite family of pairwise disjoint rays.     

Constructing cubic edge‐ but not vertex‐transitive graphs

An infinite family of cubic edge‐transitive but not vertex‐transitive graphs with edge stabilizer isomorphic to ℤ₂ is constructed. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Graph Theory 35: 152–160, 2000