arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Binzhou Xia.
We construct a connected cubic nonnormal Cayley graph on $\mathrm{A}_{2^m-1}$ for each integer $m\geqslant4$ and determine its full automorphism group. This is the first infinite family of connected cubic nonnormal Cayley graphs on nonabelian simple groups.
A recent conjecture of the author and Teng Fang states that there are only finitely many finite simple groups with no cubic graphical regular representation. In this paper, we make a crucial progress towards this conjecture by giving an affirmative answer for groups of Lie type of large rank.
We study $G$-vertex-primitive and $(G,s)$-arc-transitive digraphs for almost simple groups $G$ with socle $\mathrm{PSL}_n(q)$. It turns out that $s\leqslant2$ for such digraphs, which provides the first step in determining an upper bound on $s$ for all the vertex-primitive $s$-arc-transitive digraphs.
This paper classifies the factorizations of almost simple groups with a factor having at least two nonsolvable composition factors. This together with a previous classification result of the authors reduces the factorization problem of almost simple groups to the case where both factors have a unique nonsolvable composition factor.
In this paper, we classify finite quasiprimitive permutation groups with a metacyclic transitive subgroup, solving a problem initiated by Wielandt in 1949. It also involves the classification of factorizations of almost simple groups with a metacyclic factor.
A good knowledge of the Jordan canonical form (JCF) for a tensor product of `Jordan blocks' is key to understanding the actions of $p$-groups of matrices in characteristic $p$. The JCF corresponds to a certain partition which depends on the characteristic $p$, and the study of these partitions dates back to Aitken's work in 1934. Equivalently each JCF corresponds to a certain permutation $π$ introduced by Norman in 1995. These permutations $π= π(r,s,p)$ depend on the dimensions $r$, $s$ of the Jordan blocks, and on $p$. We give necessary and sufficient conditions for $π(r,s,p)$ to be trivial, building on work of M.J. Barry. We show that when $π(r,s,p)$ is nontrivial, it is an involution involving reversals. Finally, we prove that the group $G(r,p)$ generated by $π(r,s,p)$ for all $s$, `factors' as a wreath product corresponding to the factorisation $r=ab$ as a product of its $p'$-part $a$ and $p$-part $b$: precisely $G(r, p)={\sf S}_a\wr {\sf D}_b$ where ${\sf S}_a$ is a symmetric group of degree $a$, and ${\sf D}_b$ is a dihedral group of degree $b$.
The canonical double cover $\mathrm{D}(Γ)$ of a graph $Γ$ is the direct product of $Γ$ and $K_2$. If $\mathrm{Aut}(\mathrm{D}(Γ))=\mathrm{Aut}(Γ)\times\mathbb{Z}_2$ then $Γ$ is called stable; otherwise $Γ$ is called unstable. An unstable graph is nontrivially unstable if it is connected, non-bipartite and distinct vertices have different neighborhoods. In this paper we prove that every circulant graph of odd prime order is stable and there is no arc-transitive nontrivially unstable circulant graph. The latter answers a question of Wilson in 2008. We also give infinitely many counterexamples to a conjecture of Marušič, Scapellato and Zagaglia Salvi in 1989 by constructing a family of stable circulant graphs with compatible adjacency matrices.
We study the covering radii of $2$-transitive permutation groups of Lie rank one, giving bounds and links to finite geometry.
Given a graph $Γ$, a subset $C$ of $V(Γ)$ is called a perfect code in $Γ$ if every vertex of $Γ$ is at distance no more than one to exactly one vertex in $C$, and a subset $C$ of $V(Γ)$ is called a total perfect code in $Γ$ if every vertex of $Γ$ is adjacent to exactly one vertex in $C$. In this paper we study perfect codes and total perfect codes in Cayley graphs, with a focus on the following themes: when a subgroup of a given group is a (total) perfect code in a Cayley graph of the group; and how to construct new (total) perfect codes in a Cayley graph from known ones using automorphisms of the underlying group. We prove several results around these questions.
The classical problem of whether $m$th-powers with or without zero in a finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$ form a difference set has been extensively studied, and is related to many topics, such as flag transitive finite projective planes. In this paper new necessary and sufficient conditions are established including those via a system of polynomial equations on Gauss sums. The author thereby solves the problem for even $q$ which is neglected in the literature, and extends the nonexistence list for even $m$ up to $22$. Moreover, conjectures toward the complete classification are posed.
A graph $Γ$ is called $G$-symmetric if it admits $G$ as a group of automorphisms acting transitively on the set of ordered pairs of adjacent vertices. We give a classification of $G$-symmetric graphs $Γ$ with $V(Γ)$ admitting a nontrivial $G$-invariant partition $\mathcal{B}$ such that there is exactly one edge of $Γ$ between any two distinct blocks of $\mathcal{B}$. This is achieved by giving a classification of $(G, 2)$-point-transitive and $G$-block-transitive designs $\mathcal{D}$ together with $G$-orbits $Ω$ on the flag set of $\mathcal{D}$ such that $G_{σ, L}$ is transitive on $L \setminus \{σ\}$ and $L \cap N = \{σ\}$ for distinct $(σ, L), (σ, N) \in Ω$, where $G_{σ, L}$ is the setwise stabilizer of $L$ in the stabilizer $G_σ$ of $σ$ in $G$. Along the way we determine all imprimitive blocks of $G_σ$ on $V \setminus \{σ\}$ for every $2$-transitive group $G$ on a set $V$, where $σ\in V$.
The covering radius of a subset $C$ of the symmetric group $\mathrm{S}_n$ is the maximal Hamming distance of an element of $\mathrm{S}_n$ from $C$. This note determines the covering radii of the finite projective general linear groups. It turns out that the covering radius of $\mathrm{PGL}_2(q)$ is $q-2$ if $q$ is even, and is $q-3$ if $q$ is odd.
We solve the long-standing existence problem of vertex-primitive 2-arc-transitive digraphs by constructing an infinite family of such digraphs.
We study vertex-quasiprimitive $2$-arc-transitive digraphs, reducing the problem of vertex-primitive $2$-arc-transitive digraphs to almost simple groups. This includes a complete classification of vertex-quasiprimitive $2$-arc-transitive digraphs where the action on vertices has O'Nan-Scott type SD or CD.
We study cubic graphical regular representations of the finite simple groups $PSL_2(q)$. It is shown that such graphical regular representations exist if and only if $q\neq7$, and the generating set must consist of three involutions.
The isomorphism problem of Cayley graphs has been well studied in the literature, such as characterizations of CI (DCI)-graphs and CI (DCI)-groups. In this paper, we generalize these to vertex-transitive graphs and establish parallel results. Some interesting vertex-transitive graphs are given, including a first example of connected symmetric non-Cayley non-GI-graph. Also, we initiate the study for GI and DGI-groups, defined analogously to the concept of CI and DCI-groups.
A classification is given for factorizations of almost simple groups with at least one factor solvable, and it is then applied to characterize $s$-arc-transitive Cayley graphs of solvable groups, leading to a striking corollary: Except the cycles, every non-bipartite connected 3-arc-transitive Cayley graph of a solvable group is a cover of the Petersen graph or the Hoffman-Singleton graph.
Let $J_r$ denote an $r\times r$ matrix over a finite field $F$ with minimal and characteristic polynomials $(t-1)^r$. Suppose $r\leq s$. It is not hard to show that the Jordan canonical form of $J_r\otimes J_s$ is similar to $J_{λ_1}\oplus\cdots\oplus J_{λ_r}$ where $λ_1\geq\cdots\geqλ_r>0$ and $\sum_{i=1}^rλ_i=rs$. The partition $λ(r,s,p):=(λ_1,\dots,λ_r)$ of $rs$, which depends only on $r,s$ and the characteristic $p$ of $F$, has many applications including to the study of algebraic groups. We prove new periodicity and duality results for $λ(r,s,p)$ that depend on the smallest $p$-power exceeding $r$. This generalizes results of J. A. Green, B. Srinivasan, and others which depend on the smallest $p$-power exceeding the (potentially large) integer $s$. We show that for fixed $r$ we can construct a finite table allowing the computation of $λ(r,s,p)$ for all $s$ with $s\geq r$, and all primes $p$. This generalizes work of K-i. Iima and R. Iwamatsu.