[Math] Removal of non-isomorphic edges results in the same graph

co.combinatoricscounterexamplesextremal-graph-theorygraph theory

There exists a (simple unlabeled) graph on 6 nodes with a pair of non-isomorphic edges (i.e., there is no graph automorphism that sends one edge into the other) such that removal of either of them results in the same graph:

Example of a graph on 6 nodes

The two non-isomorphic edges here are colored red and blue. This is the smallest example of such graph and it is unique for 6 nodes.

I wonder what would be the smallest example of a graph with a triple of pairwise non-isomorphic edges and removal of any one of them resulting in the same graph.

P.S. See also sequence https://oeis.org/A245246 — extension is welcome.

UPDATE: user2097 below gave a construction for a graph on $(\tbinom{n}{2}+1)\cdot n$ nodes that squares the number of such pairwise non-isomorphic edges. When applied for the aforementioned graph on 6 nodes, it gives a graph on 96 nodes with a quadruple of pairwise non-isomorphic edges, removal of each of which results in the same graph. But it is probably not the smallest such graph.

Best Answer

Let me give a construction that leads, for any fixed $N$, to a graph which has $N$ pairwise non-isomorphic edges and removal of any one of them results in the same graph. This is not a complete answer but I think it is of some interest.

Let us denote by $G$ a graph whose vertices are labeled with elements of a finite set $V$. We will assume that $\pi=\{p,q\}$ and $\rho=\{r,s\}$ is a non-isomorphic pair of edges in $G$. I will also assume that the graph $G'=G\setminus\pi$ (obtained from $G$ by removing $\pi$) is isomorphic to $G\setminus\rho$. For example, the 6-vertex graph from the initial question can be taken as $G$.

Let me construct the graph $\Gamma=\Gamma(G,\pi)$ as follows. The vertex set of $\Gamma$ will be the union of $V$ and $W\times V$; we denote the vertices from $W\times V$ as $v_{ec}$ for $e\in W$ and $c\in V$. (Here, $W$ stands for the set of all subsets of $V$ which have cardinality $2$.) The edges of $\Gamma$ are the following.

(1) there is an edge between $i$ and $v_{ec}$ if and only if $i\in e$;

(2) assuming $e\in G$, there is an edge between $v_{ex}$ and $v_{ey}$ if and only if $\{x,y\}\in G$;

(3) assuming $e\notin G$, there is an edge between $v_{ex}$ and $v_{ey}$ if and only if $\{x,y\}\in G'$;

(4) $\Gamma$ has only those edges which are specified in (1)-(3).

Speaking informally, we draw a copy of $G$ instead of every edge $\{i,j\}$. If $\{i,j\}$ is not an edge, we draw a copy of $G'$. In both cases, we draw the edges connecting all the new vertices with both $i$ and $j$. (We do this over all $\{i,j\}\in W$.)

Now, consider the edges $\{v_{\pi p},v_{\pi q}\}$, $\{v_{\pi r},v_{\pi s}\}$, $\{v_{\rho p},v_{\rho q}\}$, $\{v_{\rho r},v_{\rho s}\}$. From an informal description it can be seen that graphs obtained by removal of any one of them are isomorphic. To show that the edges provided are pairwise non-isomorphic, assume by contradiction that an automorphism $\psi$ of $\Gamma$ swaps some pair of them. Then,

(1) a vertex $v_{ec}$ can not be an image $\psi(i)$ of $i$ under $\psi$ because they have different degrees;

(2) then, denoting $e=\{i,j\}$ and $\psi(e)=\{\psi(i),\psi(j)\}$, we conclude $\psi(v_{ec})=v_{\psi(e)c'}$ for some $c'$;

(3) the subgraphs generated by all $v_{ec}$ and by all $v_{e'c}$ (in both cases, $c$ runs over $1,\dots,n$) are isomorphic iff either $e,e'\in G$ or $e,e'\notin G$, therefore $\{\psi(i),\psi(j)\}\in G$ iff $\{i,j\}\in G$;

(4) this shows that $\psi'$, the restriction of $\psi$ to $\{1,\ldots,n\}$, is an automorphism of $G$;

(5) by the definition of $G$, $\psi'$ can not swap $\pi$ and $\rho$, so that $\psi(\pi)=\pi$ and $\psi(\rho)=\rho$;

(6) then, the restriction of $\psi$ to $v_{\pi c}$ is an automorphism, which cannot swap $\{v_{\pi p},v_{\pi q}\}$ and $\{v_{\pi r},v_{\pi s}\}$ again by definition of $G$;

(7) similarly to the previous step, $\psi$ cannot swap $\{v_{\rho p},v_{\rho q}\}$ and $\{v_{\rho r},v_{\rho s}\}$;

(8) finally, $\psi$ can not swap $v_{\rho a}$ and $v_{\pi b}$ because of step (5).

Let me finally note that we can apply the $\Gamma$ construction to $\Gamma_0=\Gamma(G,\pi)$ itself. As far as I can see, the graph $\Gamma_1=\Gamma(\Gamma_0,\{v_{\rho p},v_{\rho q}\})$ has $16$ pairwise non-isomorphic edges and removal of any one of them results in the same graph. Similarly constructed $\Gamma_2$ will have $256$ edges with this property, and so on.

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