Infinite graphical Frobenius representations

Mark E. Watkins

Abstract: A graphical Frobenius representation (GFR) of a Frobenius (permutation) group G is a graph Γ whose automorphism group Aut(Γ) acts as a Frobenius permutation group on the vertex set of Γ, that is, Aut(Γ) acts vertex-transitively with the property that all nonidentity automorphisms fix either exactly one or zero vertices and there are some of each kind. The set K of all fixed-point-free automorphisms together with the identity is called the kernel of G. Whenever G is finite, K is a regular normal subgroup of G (F. G. Frobenius, 1901), in which case Γ is a Cayley graph of K. The same holds true for all the infinite instances presented here. Infinite, locally finite, vertex-transitive graphs can be classified with respect to (i) the cardinality of their set of ends and (ii) their growth rate. We construct families of infinite GFRs for all possible combinations of these two properties. There exist infinitely many GFRs with polynomial growth of degree d for every positive integer d, and there exist infinite families of GFRs of exponential growth, both 1-ended and infinitely-ended, that underlie infinite chiral planar maps. There also exist GFRs of free products of finitely many finitely generated groups. Graphs of connectivity 1 having a Frobenius automorphism group are characterized.

Journal: The Electronic Journal of Combinatorics, Volume 25, Issue 4 (2018), Paper #P4.22