Metric ends,fibers and automorphisms of graphs

Several results on the action of graph automorphisms on ends and fibers are generalized for the case of metric ends. This includes results on the action of the automorphisms on the end space, directions of automorphisms, double rays which are invariant under a power of an automorphism and metrically almost transitive automorphism groups. It is proved that the bounded automorphisms of a metrically almost transitive graph with more than one end are precisely the kernel of the action on the space of metric ends. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Quasi-isometries between non-locally-finite graphs and structure trees

We prove several criteria for quasi-isometry between non-locally-finite graphs and their structure trees. Results ofMöller in [11] for locally finite and transitive graphs are generalized. We also give a criterion in terms of correspondence between the ends of the graph and the ends of the structure tree.     

A Conjecture Concerning a Limit of Non-Cayley Graphs

Our aim in this note is to present a transitive graph that we conjecture is not quasi-isometric to any Cayley graph. No such graph is currently known. Our graph arises both as an abstract limit in a suitable space of graphs and in a concrete way as a subset of a product of trees.     

Vertex Cuts

Given a connected graph, in many cases it is possible to construct a structure tree that provides information about the ends of the graph or its connectivity. For example Stallings' theorem on the structure of groups with more than one end can be proved by analyzing the action of the group on a structure tree and Tutte used a structure tree to investigate finite 2‐connected graphs, that are not 3‐connected. Most of these structure tree theories have been based on edge cuts, which are components of the graph obtained by removing finitely many edges. A new axiomatic theory is described here using vertex cuts, components of the graph obtained by removing finitely many vertices. This generalizes Tutte's decomposition of 2‐connected graphs to k‐connected graphs for any k, in finite and infinite graphs. The theory can be applied to nonlocally finite graphs with more than one vertex end, i.e. ends that can be separated by removing a finite number of vertices. This gives a decomposition for a group acting on such a graph, generalizing Stallings' theorem. Further applications include the classification of distance transitive graphs and k‐CS‐transitive graphs.     

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.     

Super-Connectivity and Hyper-Connectivity of Vertex Transitive Bipartite Graphs

A graph is said to be super-connected if every minimum vertex cut isolates a vertex. A graph is said to be hyper-connected if the deletion of each minimum vertex cut creates exactly two components, one of which is an isolated vertex. In this note, we proved that a vertex transitive bipartite graph is not super-connected if and only if it is isomorphic to the lexicographic product of a cycle C_n(n ≥ 6) by a null graph N_m. We also characterized non-hyper-connected vertex transitive bipartite graphs.     

Quasi-isometries between groups with infinitely many ends

Let G, F be finitely generated groups with infinitely many ends and let? be graph of groups decompositions of F, G such that all edge groups are finite and all vertex groups have at most one end. We show that G, F are quasi-isometric if and only if every one-ended vertex group of is quasi-isometric to some one-ended vertex group of and every one-ended vertex group of is quasi-isometric to some one-ended vertex group of?. From our proof it also follows that if G is any finitely generated group, of order at least three, the groups: and are all quasi-isometric. Received: April 7, 2000; revised version: October 6, 2000     

Quasi-isometries between visual hyperbolic spaces

We prove that a power quasi-symmetric (or PQ-symmetric) homeomorphism between two complete metric spaces can be extended to a quasi-isometry between their hyperbolic approximations. This result can be used to prove that two visual Gromov hyperbolic spaces are quasi-isometric if and only if there is a PQ-symmetric homeomorphism between their boundaries with bounded visual metrics. Also, in the case of trees, we prove that two geodesically complete trees are quasi-isometric if and only if there is a PQ-symmetric homeomorphism between their boundaries with visual metrics based at infinity. We also give a characterization for a map to be PQ-symmetric based on the relative distortion of subsets.     

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.     

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     

Treelike comparability graphs

An undirected graph is a treelike comparability graph if it admits a transitive orientation such that its transitive reduction is a tree. We show that treelike comparability graphs are distance hereditary. Utilizing this property, we give a linear time recognition algorithm. We then characterize permutation graphs that are treelike. Finally, we consider the Partitioning into Bounded Cliques problem on special subgraphs of treelike permutation graphs.     

Dense trees: a new look at degenerate graphs

Dense trees are undirected graphs defined as natural extensions of trees. They are already known in the realm of graph coloring under the name of k-degenerate graphs. For a given integer k1, a k-dense cycle is a connected graph, where the degree of each vertex is greater than k. A k-dense forest F=(V,E) is a graph without k-dense cycles as subgraphs. If F is connected, then is a k-dense tree. 1-dense trees are standard trees. We have |E|k|V|−k(k+1)/2. If equality holds F is connected and is called a maximal k-dense tree. k-trees (a subfamily of triangulated graphs) are special cases of maximal k-dense trees.We review the basic theory of dense trees in the family of graphs and show their relation with k-trees. Vertex and edge connectivity is thoroughly investigated, and the role of maximal k-dense trees as “reinforced” spanning trees of arbitrary graphs is presented. Then it is shown how a k-dense forest or tree can be decomposed into a set of standard spanning trees connected through a common “root” of k vertices. All sections include efficient construction algorithms. Applications of k-dense trees in the fields of distributed systems and data structures are finally indicated.     

Tropical hyperelliptic curves

We study the locus of tropical hyperelliptic curves inside the moduli space of tropical curves of genus g. We define a harmonic morphism of metric graphs and prove that a metric graph is hyperelliptic if and only if it admits a harmonic morphism of degree 2 to a metric tree. This generalizes the work of Baker and Norine on combinatorial graphs to the metric case. We then prove that the locus of 2-edge-connected genus g tropical hyperelliptic curves is a (2g?1)-dimensional stacky polyhedral fan whose maximal cells are in bijection with trees on g?1 vertices with maximum valence 3. Finally, we show that the Berkovich skeleton of a classical hyperelliptic plane curve satisfying a certain tropical smoothness condition is a standard ladder of genus g.     

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     

Spectral characterization of line graphs of starlike trees

Two graphs are said to be A-cospectral if they have the same adjacency spectrum. A graph G is said to be determined by its adjacency spectrum if there is no other non-isomorphic graph A-cospectral with G. A tree is called starlike if it has exactly one vertex of degree greater than 2. In this article, we prove that the line graphs of starlike trees with maximum degree at least 12 are determined by their adjacency spectra.     

Super-connected edge transitive graphs

A graph G is said to be super-connected if any minimum cut of G isolates a vertex. In a previous work due to the second author of this note, super-connected graphs which are both vertex transitive and edge transitive are characterized. In this note, we generalize the characterization to edge transitive graphs which are not necessarily vertex transitive, showing that the only irreducible edge transitive graphs which are not super-connected are the cycles C_n(n?6) and the line graph of the 3-cube, where irreducible means the graph has no vertices with the same neighbor set. Furthermore, we give some sufficient conditions for reducible edge transitive graphs to be super-connected.     

Metric characterizations of proper interval graphs and tree-clique graphs

A connected graph G is a tree-clique graph if there exists a spanning tree T (a compatible tree) such that every clique of G is a subtree of T. When T is a path the connected graph G is a proper interval graph which is usually defined as intersection graph of a family of closed intervals of the real line such that no interval contains another. We present here metric characterizations of proper interval graphs and extend them to tree-clique graphs. This is done by demonstrating “local” properties of tree-clique graphs with respect to the subgraphs induced by paths of a compatible tree. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Spanning trees of extended graphs

A generalization of the Prüfer coding of trees is given providing a natural correspondence between the set of codes of spanning trees of a graph and the set of codes of spanning trees of theextension of the graph. This correspondence prompts us to introduce and to investigate a notion ofthe spanning tree volume of a graph and provides a simple relation between the volumes of a graph and its extension (and in particular a simple relation between the spanning tree numbers of a graph and its uniform extension). These results can be used to obtain simple purely combinatorial proofs of many previous results obtained by the Matrix-tree theorem on the number of spanning trees of a graph. The results also make it possible to construct graphs with the maximal number of spanning trees in some classes of graphs.     

On Infinite Cycles I

We adapt the cycle space of a finite graph to locally finite infinite graphs, using as infinite cycles the homeomorphic images of the unit circle S¹ in the graph compactified by its ends. We prove that this cycle space consists of precisely the sets of edges that meet every finite cut evenly, and that the spanning trees whose fundamental cycles generate this cycle space are precisely the end-faithful spanning trees. We also generalize Eulers theorem by showing that a locally finite connected graph with ends contains a closed topological curve traversing every edge exactly once if and only if its entire edge set lies in this cycle space.To the memory of C. St. J. A. Nash-Williams     

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