Kamilla Rekvényi: Orbital graphs and some of their friends

Kamilla Rekvényi (University of Manchester)

Abstract: Let G be a group acting transitively on a finite set Ω. Then G acts on ΩxΩ component wise. Define the orbitals to be the orbits of G on ΩxΩ. The diagonal orbital is the orbital of the form ∆ = {(α, α)|α ∈ Ω}. The others are called non-diagonal orbitals. Let Γ be a non-diagonal orbital. Define an orbital graph to be the non-directed graph with vertex set Ω and edge set (α,β)∈ Γ with α,β∈ Ω. If the action of G on Ω is primitive, then all non-diagonal orbital graphs are connected. The orbital diameter of a primitive permutation group is the supremum of the diameters of its non-diagonal orbital graphs.

There has been a lot of interest in finding bounds on the orbital diameter of primitive permutation groups. In my talk I will outline some important background information and the progress made towards finding explicit bounds on the orbital diameter. In particular, I will discuss some results on the orbital diameter of the groups of simple diagonal type and their connection to diameters of Cayley graphs of finite simple groups. I will also discuss some recent results for generalized Saxl graphs and their connection to orbital graphs, which is joint work with S. Freedman, H. Huang and M. Lee.