Distance-regular graphs

This is a survey of distance-regular graphs. We present an introduction to distance-regular graphs for the reader who is unfamiliar with the subject, and then give an overview of some developments in the area of distance-regular graphs since the monograph 'BCN' [Brouwer, A.E., Cohen, A.M., Neumaier, A., Distance-Regular Graphs, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1989] was written.Comment: 156 page

Synchronizing permutation groups and graph endomorphisms

The current thesis is focused on synchronizing permutation groups and on graph endo- morphisms. Applying the implicit classification of rank 3 groups, we provide a bound on synchronizing ranks of rank 3 groups, at first. Then, we determine the singular graph endomorphisms of the Hamming graph and related graphs, count Latin hypercuboids of class r, establish their relation to mixed MDS codes, investigate G-decompositions of (non)-synchronizing semigroups, and analyse the kernel graph construction used in the theorem of Cameron and Kazanidis which identifies non-synchronizing transformations with graph endomorphisms [20]. The contribution lies in the following points: 1. A bound on synchronizing ranks of groups of permutation rank 3 is given, and a complete list of small non-synchronizing groups of permutation rank 3 is provided (see Chapter 3). 2. The singular endomorphisms of the Hamming graph and some related graphs are characterised (see Chapter 5). 3. A theorem on the extension of partial Latin hypercuboids is given, Latin hyper- cuboids for small values are counted, and their correspondence to mixed MDS codes is unveiled (see Chapter 6). 4. The research on normalizing groups from [3] is extended to semigroups of the form , and decomposition properties of non-synchronizing semigroups are described which are then applied to semigroups induced by combinatorial tiling problems (see Chapter 7). 5. At last, it is shown that all rank 3 graphs admitting singular endomorphisms are hulls and it is conjectured that a hull on n vertices has minimal generating set of at most n generators (see Chapter 8)