Countable locally 2-arc-transitive bipartite graphs

We present an order-theoretic approach to the study of countably infinite locally 2-arc-transitive bipartite graphs. Our approach is motivated by techniques developed by Warren and others during the study of cycle-free partial orders. We give several new families of previously unknown countably infinite locally-2-arc-transitive graphs, each family containing continuum many members. These examples are obtained by gluing together copies of incidence graphs of semilinear spaces, satisfying a certain symmetry property, in a tree-like way. In one case we show how the classification problem for that family relates to the problem of determining a certain family of highly arc-transitive digraphs. Numerous illustrative examples are given.Comment: 29 page

Short Cycles Connectivity

Short cycles connectivity is a generalization of ordinary connectivity. Instead by a path (sequence of edges), two vertices have to be connected by a sequence of short cycles, in which two adjacent cycles have at least one common vertex. If all adjacent cycles in the sequence share at least one edge, we talk about edge short cycles connectivity. It is shown that the short cycles connectivity is an equivalence relation on the set of vertices, while the edge short cycles connectivity components determine an equivalence relation on the set of edges. Efficient algorithms for determining equivalence classes are presented. Short cycles connectivity can be extended to directed graphs (cyclic and transitive connectivity). For further generalization we can also consider connectivity by small cliques or other families of graphs

Locally ss-distance transitive graphs

We give a unified approach to analysing, for each positive integer $s$, a class of finite connected graphs that contains all the distance transitive graphs as well as the locally $s$-arc transitive graphs of diameter at least $s$. A graph is in the class if it is connected and if, for each vertex $v$, the subgroup of automorphisms fixing $v$ acts transitively on the set of vertices at distance $i$ from $v$, for each $i$ from 1 to $s$. We prove that this class is closed under forming normal quotients. Several graphs in the class are designated as degenerate, and a nondegenerate graph in the class is called basic if all its nontrivial normal quotients are degenerate. We prove that, for $s\geq 2$, a nondegenerate, nonbasic graph in the class is either a complete multipartite graph, or a normal cover of a basic graph. We prove further that, apart from the complete bipartite graphs, each basic graph admits a faithful quasiprimitive action on each of its (1 or 2) vertex orbits, or a biquasiprimitive action. These results invite detailed additional analysis of the basic graphs using the theory of quasiprimitive permutation groups.Comment: Revised after referee report