Isomorphism and Cayley graphs on abelian groups

Brian ALSPACH*
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
Burnaby, BC, VSA 186
Canada

Abstract
We study the problem of determining when two Cayley graphs on a given abelian
group are isomorphic. The emphasis is on abelian p-groups.

1 Circulant graphs
Let us begin with a few basic definitions.

1.1 Definition Let S be a subset of a finite group G satisfying

(1) 1 ~ S, where 1 denotes the identity of G, and

(2) S = s- 1 , that is, s E S implies that s- 1 E S.

A subset S satisfying the above conditions is called a Cayley subset. The Cayley graph
X(G;S) is defined to be the graph whose vertices correspond to the elements ofG with an
edge between g and h if and only if h = gs for some s E S. We call S the connection set and
say that X(G; S) is a Cayley graph on the group G.

1.2 Definition A permutation of the vertex set of a graph X preserving adjacency is called
an automorphism of the graph. The group of automorphisms of X is denoted Aut(X). A
graph X is said to be vertex-transitive if Aut(X) acts transitively on the vertex set of X.
Likewise, X is said to be edge-transitive if Aut(X) acts transitively on the edge set of X.

1.3 Proposition Cayley graphs are vertex-transitive.

Proof It is easy to see that left multiplication by a group element on which the Cayley
graph is defined is an automorphism of the graph. The result follows easily from this. D

1.4 Definition A Cayley graph X(G; S) is called a circulant graph when G is a cyclic group.
*This work was partially supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
under Grant A-4792. The author wishes to thank Aubert Daigneault, Geiia Hahn, Gert Sabidussi and the
Department of Mathematics of the Universite de Montreal for their support and organizational skills.
I
G. Hahn and G. Sabidussi (eels.), Graph Symmetry, 1-22.
@ 1997 Kluwer Academic Publishers.
2 B. Alspach

We shall use additive notation when dealing with circulant graphs. Thus, given that
IGI = n, the connection set S is a subset of {1, 2, ... , n- 1} satisfying s E S implies that
n- s E S, and i is adjacent to i + s for all s E Sandi= 0, 1, ... , n- 1. In this special case,
we use the notation X(n; S).
Circulant graphs are Cayley graphs on the most straight-forward of all groups. This leads
one to believe that circulant graphs are a good testing ground for questions about Cayley
graphs. We shall put them to the test regarding isomorphism. The basic question is what
can one say about the isomorphism of X(n; S) and X(n; S'). The first case we consider is
when n is a prime, but before doing so we introduce some notation.
The ring of i,ntegers modulo n will be denoted by Zn, and Z~ will denote the multiplicative
subgroup of units in Zn. The mapping Ta,b acting on Zn is defined by Ta,b(x) = ax+ b. If
aE z;,then Ta,b is a permutation of Zn·

1.5 Definition Let G 1 and G2 be permutation groups acting on the object sets n1 and
r! 2, respectively. We say that G1 and G2 are isomorphic as permutation groups, and write
G1 = G2, provided that there is a bijection t : n1 --t n2 and an isomorphism f : G1 --t G2 so
that
f(cr)(t(x)) = t(cr(x))
for every 0' E Gl and every X E nl.

In simple terms, the previous definition is telling us that if we rename the elements of
n1 in all the permutations of G 1 according to some bijection, then we obtain exactly the
permutations of G2. A basic and powerful tool is the following theorem of Burnside [25].

1.6 Theorem If G is a transitive permutation group acting on a prime number p of points,

then either G is doubly transitive or

G := {Ta,b: a E H < z; and bE Zp}·

We now shall consider some of the many applications of Theorem 1.6. The following
corollary is proved easily by noting that the only mappings of the form Ta,b without a fixed
point are those for which a = 1.

1. 7 Corollary If G is a transitive permutation group acting on a prime number p of points

and G is not doubly transitive, then G contains a unique subgroup of order p.

1.8 Theorem A graph X of order p is vertex-transitive if and only if X is a circulant graph.

Proof If X is a circulant graph, it is vertex-transitive because of Proposition 1.3. On the

other hand, let X be any vertex-transitive graph of order p. If Aut( X) is doubly transitive,
X is either Kp, the complete graph of order p, or the complement KP' Both of these graphs
certainly are circulants. Otherwise, Aut(X) is not doubly transitive and contains a subgroup
of order p by Corollary 1. 7. The subgroup of order p must be generated by a permutation of
the form p = (0 1 · · · p- 1). If i is adjacent to j in X, then i +sis adjacent to j + s for all
s modulo p. Hence, S = {j : Oj E E(X)} completely determines all the edges of X, and X
is isomorphic to the circulant graph of order p with connection set S. 0