We describe a technique to determine the automorphism group of a
geometrically represented graph, by understanding the structure of the induced
action on all geometric representations. Using this, we characterize
automorphism groups of interval, permutation and circle graphs. We combine
techniques from group theory (products, homomorphisms, actions) with data
structures from computer science (PQ-trees, split trees, modular trees) that
encode all geometric representations.
We prove that interval graphs have the same automorphism groups as trees, and
for a given interval graph, we construct a tree with the same automorphism
group which answers a question of Hanlon [Trans. Amer. Math. Soc 272(2), 1982].
For permutation and circle graphs, we give an inductive characterization by
semidirect and wreath products. We also prove that every abstract group can be
realized by the automorphism group of a comparability graph/poset of the
dimension at most four