Distance-regular graph with large a1 or c2

In this paper, we study distance-regular graphs $\Gamma$ that have a pair of distinct vertices, say x and y, such that the number of common neighbors of x and y is about half the valency of $\Gamma$. We show that if the diameter is at least three, then such a graph, besides a finite number of exceptions, is a Taylor graph, bipartite with diameter three or a line graph.Comment: We submited this manuscript to JCT

Algebraic and combinatorial aspects of sandpile monoids on directed graphs

The sandpile group of a graph is a well-studied object that combines ideas from algebraic graph theory, group theory, dynamical systems, and statistical physics. A graph's sandpile group is part of a larger algebraic structure on the graph, known as its sandpile monoid. Most of the work on sandpiles so far has focused on the sandpile group rather than the sandpile monoid of a graph, and has also assumed the underlying graph to be undirected. A notable exception is the recent work of Babai and Toumpakari, which builds up the theory of sandpile monoids on directed graphs from scratch and provides many connections between the combinatorics of a graph and the algebraic aspects of its sandpile monoid. In this paper we primarily consider sandpile monoids on directed graphs, and we extend the existing theory in four main ways. First, we give a combinatorial classification of the maximal subgroups of a sandpile monoid on a directed graph in terms of the sandpile groups of certain easily-identifiable subgraphs. Second, we point out certain sandpile results for undirected graphs that are really results for sandpile monoids on directed graphs that contain exactly two idempotents. Third, we give a new algebraic constraint that sandpile monoids must satisfy and exhibit two infinite families of monoids that cannot be realized as sandpile monoids on any graph. Finally, we give an explicit combinatorial description of the sandpile group identity for every graph in a family of directed graphs which generalizes the family of (undirected) distance-regular graphs. This family includes many other graphs of interest, including iterated wheels, regular trees, and regular tournaments.Comment: v2: Cleaner presentation, new results in final section. Accepted for publication in J. Combin. Theory Ser. A. 21 pages, 5 figure

The Graphicahedron

The paper describes a construction of abstract polytopes from Cayley graphs of symmetric groups. Given any connected graph G with p vertices and q edges, we associate with G a Cayley graph of the symmetric group S_p and then construct a vertex-transitive simple polytope of rank q, called the graphicahedron, whose 1-skeleton (edge graph) is the Cayley graph. The graphicahedron of a graph G is a generalization of the well-known permutahedron; the latter is obtained when the graph is a path. We also discuss symmetry properties of the graphicahedron and determine its structure when G is small.Comment: 21 pages (European Journal of Combinatorics, to appear

Directed strongly walk-regular graphs

We generalize the concept of strong walk-regularity to directed graphs. We call a digraph strongly $\ell$-walk-regular with $\ell >1$ if the number of walks of length $\ell$ from a vertex to another vertex depends only on whether the two vertices are the same, adjacent, or not adjacent. This generalizes also the well-studied strongly regular digraphs and a problem posed by Hoffman. Our main tools are eigenvalue methods. The case that the adjacency matrix is diagonalizable with only real eigenvalues resembles the undirected case. We show that a digraph $\Gamma$ with only real eigenvalues whose adjacency matrix is not diagonalizable has at most two values of $\ell$ for which $\Gamma$ can be strongly $\ell$-walk-regular, and we also construct examples of such strongly walk-regular digraphs. We also consider digraphs with nonreal eigenvalues. We give such examples and characterize those digraphs $\Gamma$ for which there are infinitely many $\ell$ for which $\Gamma$ is strongly $\ell$-walk-regular