Cayleygraph

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Inmathematics,aCayleygraph,alsoknownasaCayleycolourgraph,
Cayleydiagram,groupdiagram,orcolourgroup[1]isagraphthat
encodestheabstractstructureofagroup.Itsdefinitionissuggestedby
Cayley'stheorem(namedafterArthurCayley)andusesaspecified,usually
finite,setofgeneratorsforthegroup.Itisacentraltoolincombinatorial
andgeometricgrouptheory.

Contents
1
2
3
4
5
6

Definition
Examples
Characterization
Elementaryproperties
Schreiercosetgraph
Connectiontogrouptheory
6.1 Geometricgroup
theory
7 History
8 Bethelattice
9 Seealso
10 Notes
11 Externallinks

Definition
Supposethat isagroupand isageneratingset.TheCayley
graph
isacoloreddirectedgraphconstructedas
follows:[2]
Eachelement of isassignedavertex:thevertexset
of isidentifiedwith
Eachgenerator of isassignedacolor .
Forany
theverticescorrespondingtothe
elements and arejoinedbyadirectededgeofcolour
Thustheedgeset
consistsofpairsoftheform
with
providingthecolor.

TheCayleygraphofthefreegroup
ontwogeneratorsaandb

Graphfamiliesdefinedbytheir
automorphisms
distance
transitive

distance
regular

symmetric
(arc
transitive)

t
transitive,t2

strongly
regular

skew
symmetric

(ifconnected)

vertexand
edge
transitive

edgetransitive
andregular

vertex
transitive

regular

Cayley
graph

zero
symmetric

edge
transitive

(ifbipartite)

biregular

asymmetric

Ingeometricgrouptheory,theset isusuallyassumedtobefinite,
symmetric(i.e.
)andnotcontainingtheidentityelementofthegroup.Inthiscase,theuncoloredCayley
graphisanordinarygraph:itsedgesarenotorientedanditdoesnotcontainloops(singleelementcycles).

Examples

Supposethat
istheinfinitecyclicgroupandthesetSconsistsofthestandardgenerator1andits
inverse(1intheadditivenotation)thentheCayleygraphisaninfinitepath.
Similarly,if
isthefinitecyclicgroupofordernandthesetSconsistsoftwoelements,thestandard
generatorofGanditsinverse,thentheCayleygraphisthecycle .Moregenerally,theCayleygraphsof
finitecyclicgroupsareexactlythecirculantgraphs.
TheCayleygraphofthedirectproductofgroups(withthecartesianproductofgeneratingsetsasa
generatingset)isthecartesianproductofthecorrespondingCayleygraphs.[3]ThustheCayleygraphofthe
abeliangroup withthesetofgeneratorsconsistingoffourelements
istheinfinitegrid
ontheplane ,whileforthedirectproduct
withsimilargeneratorstheCayleygraphisthe
finitegridonatorus.
ACayleygraphofthedihedralgroupD4on
twogeneratorsaandbisdepictedtothe
left.Redarrowsrepresentcompositionwith
a.Sincebisselfinverse,thebluelines,
whichrepresentcompositionwithb,are
undirected.Thereforethegraphismixed:it
haseightvertices,eightarrows,andfour
edges.TheCayleytableofthegroupD4can
bederivedfromthegrouppresentation

Cayleygraphofthedihedralgroup
Dih4ontwogeneratorsaandb

OntwogeneratorsofDih4,
whicharebothselfinverse

AdifferentCayleygraphofDih4isshownontheright.bisstillthe
horizontalreflectionandrepresentedbybluelinescisadiagonalreflection
andrepresentedbygreenlines.Asbothreflectionsareselfinversethe
Cayleygraphontherightiscompletelyundirected.Thisgraphcorresponds

tothepresentation

TheCayleygraphofthefreegroupontwogeneratorsa,bcorrespondingtothesetS={a,b,a1,b1}is
depictedatthetopofthearticle,anderepresentstheidentityelement.Travellingalonganedgetotheright
representsrightmultiplicationbya,whiletravellingalonganedgeupwardcorrespondstothemultiplication
byb.Sincethefreegrouphasnorelations,theCayleygraphhasnocycles.ThisCayleygraphisakey
ingredientintheproofoftheBanachTarskiparadox.

ACayleygraphofthediscreteHeisenberggroup

isdepictedtotheright.ThegeneratorsusedinthepicturearethethreematricesX,Y,Zgivenbythethree
permutationsof1,0,0fortheentriesx,y,z.Theysatisfytherelations
,whichcanalsobeunderstoodfromthepicture.Thisisanon
commutativeinfinitegroup,anddespitebeingathreedimensionalspace,theCayleygraphhasfourdimensional
volumegrowth.

Characterization

Thegroup actsonitselfbyleftmultiplication(seeCayley'stheorem).
Thismaybeviewedastheactionof onitsCayleygraph.Explicitly,
anelement
mapsavertex
tothevertex
.
ThesetofedgeswithintheCayleygraphispreservedbythisaction:the
edge
istransformedintotheedge
.Theleft
multiplicationactionofanygrouponitselfissimplytransitive,in
particular,theCayleygraphisvertextransitive.Thisleadstothe
followingcharacterizationofCayleygraphs:
SabidussiTheorem:Agraph isaCayleygraphofagroup if
andonlyifitadmitsasimplytransitiveactionof bygraph
automorphisms(i.e.preservingthesetofedges).[4]

PartofaCayleygraphoftheHeisenberg
group.(Thecoloringisonlyforvisual
aid.)

Torecoverthegroup andthegeneratingset fromtheCayleygraph

,selectavertex
andlabelitbytheidentity
elementofthegroup.Thenlabeleachvertex of bytheuniqueelementof thattransforms into Theset
ofgeneratorsof thatyields astheCayleygraphisthesetoflabelsoftheverticesadjacenttotheselected
vertex.Thegeneratingsetisfinite(thisisacommonassumptionforCayleygraphs)ifandonlyifthegraphis
locallyfinite(i.e.eachvertexisadjacenttofinitelymanyedges).

Elementaryproperties
Ifamember ofthegeneratingsetisitsowninverse,
,thenitistypicallyrepresentedbyan
undirectededge.
TheCayleygraph
dependsinanessentialwayonthechoiceoftheset ofgenerators.For
example,ifthegeneratingset has elementstheneachvertexoftheCayleygraphhas incomingand
outgoingdirectededges.Inthecaseofasymmetricgeneratingset with elements,theCayleygraphisa
regulardirectedgraphofdegree
Cycles(orclosedwalks)intheCayleygraphindicaterelationsbetweentheelementsof Inthemore
elaborateconstructionoftheCayleycomplexofagroup,closedpathscorrespondingtorelationsare"filled
in"bypolygons.ThismeansthattheproblemofconstructingtheCayleygraphofagivenpresentation is
equivalenttosolvingtheWordProblemfor .[1]
If
isasurjectivegrouphomomorphismandtheimagesoftheelementsofthegeneratingset
for aredistinct,thenitinducesacoveringofgraphs
where
Inparticular,ifagroup has generators,alloforderdifferentfrom2,andtheset consistsofthese
generatorstogetherwiththeirinverses,thentheCayleygraph
iscoveredbytheinfiniteregulartree
ofdegree correspondingtothefreegrouponthesamesetofgenerators.
Agraph
canbeconstructedeveniftheset doesnotgeneratethegroup However,itis
disconnectedandisnotconsideredtobeaCayleygraph.Inthiscase,eachconnectedcomponentofthe
graphrepresentsacosetofthesubgroupgeneratedby .
ForanyfiniteCayleygraph,consideredasundirected,thevertexconnectivityisatleastequalto2/3ofthe
degreeofthegraph.Ifthegeneratingsetisminimal(removalofanyelementand,ifpresent,itsinversefrom
thegeneratingsetleavesasetwhichisnotgenerating),thevertexconnectivityisequaltothedegree.The
edgeconnectivityisinallcasesequaltothedegree.[5]

Schreiercosetgraph

Ifone,instead,takestheverticestoberightcosetsofafixedsubgroup ,oneobtainsarelatedconstruction,the
Schreiercosetgraph,whichisatthebasisofcosetenumerationortheToddCoxeterprocess.

Connectiontogrouptheory
Knowledgeaboutthestructureofthegroupcanbeobtainedbystudyingtheadjacencymatrixofthegraphandin
particularapplyingthetheoremsofspectralgraphtheory.

Geometricgrouptheory
Forinfinitegroups,thecoarsegeometryoftheCayleygraphisfundamentaltogeometricgrouptheory.Fora
finitelygeneratedgroup,thisisindependentofchoiceoffinitesetofgenerators,henceanintrinsicpropertyofthe
group.Thisisonlyinterestingforinfinitegroups:everyfinitegroupiscoarselyequivalenttoapoint(orthetrivial
group),sinceonecanchooseasfinitesetofgeneratorstheentiregroup.
Formally,foragivenchoiceofgenerators,onehasthewordmetric(thenaturaldistanceontheCayleygraph),
whichdeterminesametricspace.Thecoarseequivalenceclassofthisspaceisaninvariantofthegroup.

History
TheCayleyGraphwasfirstconsideredforfinitegroupsbyArthurCayleyin1878.[2]MaxDehninhisunpublished
lecturesongrouptheoryfrom190910reintroducedCayleygraphsunderthenameGruppenbild(groupdiagram),
whichledtothegeometricgrouptheoryoftoday.Hismostimportantapplicationwasthesolutionoftheword
problemforthefundamentalgroupofsurfaceswithgenus2,whichisequivalenttothetopologicalproblemof
decidingwhichclosedcurvesonthesurfacecontracttoapoint.[6]

Bethelattice
TheBethelatticeorCayleytree,istheCayleygraphofthefreegrouponngenerators.Apresentationofagroup
GbyngeneratorscorrespondstoasurjectivemapfromthefreegrouponngeneratorstothegroupG,andatthe
levelofCayleygraphstoamapfromtheCayleytreetotheCayleygraph.Thiscanalsobeinterpreted(inalgebraic
topology)astheuniversalcoveroftheCayleygraph,whichisnotingeneralsimplyconnected.

Seealso
Vertextransitivegraph
Generatingsetofagroup
Lovszconjecture
Cubeconnectedcycles
Algebraicgraphtheory
Cyclegraph(algebra)

Notes
1.Magnus,WilhelmKarrass,AbrahamSolitar,Donald(2004)[1966].CombinatorialGroupTheory:Presentationsof
GroupsinTermsofGeneratorsandRelations.Courier.ISBN9780486438306.
2.Cayley,Arthur(1878)."Desiderataandsuggestions:No.2.TheTheoryofgroups:graphicalrepresentation".Amer.J.
Math.1(2):1746.doi:10.2307/2369306.JSTOR2369306.InhisCollectedMathematicalPapers10:403405.

3.Theron,DanielPeter(1988),Anextensionoftheconceptofgraphicallyregularrepresentations,Ph.D.thesis,University
ofWisconsin,Madison,p.46,MR2636729.
4.Sabidussi,Gert(October1958)."OnaClassofFixedPointFreeGraphs".ProceedingsoftheAmericanMathematical
Society.9(5):8004.doi:10.1090/s00029939195800970687.JSTOR2033090.
5.SeeTheorem3.7ofBabai,Lszl(1995)."Chapter27:Automorphismgroups,isomorphism,reconstruction"(PDF).In
Graham,R.L.Grtschel,M.Lovsz,L.HandbookofCombinatorics.Amsterdam:Elsevier.pp.14471540.
6.Dehn,Max(2012)[1987].PapersonGroupTheoryandTopology.SpringerVerlag.ISBN1461291070.Translatedfrom
theGermanandwithintroductionsandanappendixbyJohnStillwell,andwithanappendixbyOttoSchreier.

Externallinks
Cayleydiagrams(http://www.weddslist.com/groups/cayleyplat/index.html)
Weisstein,EricW."Cayleygraph".MathWorld.
Retrievedfrom"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cayley_graph&oldid=751819706"
Categories: Grouptheory Permutationgroups Graphfamilies Applicationspecificgraphs
Geometricgrouptheory Cayleygraphs
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