The classification of endpoint-transitive graphs with geodesic condition

Abstract

We introduce endpoint k-path-transitive graphs, in which the automorphism group fixing two prescribed vertices pointwise acts transitively on the paths of length k joining them. We study the geodesic case, where k equals the distance between these vertices. We identify the union of these geodesics with the Hasse graph of a finite bounded graded poset and reduce it to proper blocks by complete cuts andmatching compression. Assume that the induced group K acts faithfully and 2-homogeneously on the first distance layer. We first prove that every nontrivial normal subgroup of K is transitive on every internal layer if and only if soc(K) is. Under this normal-basic condition, we classify the proper blocks in the affine case and the equal-width proper blocks with a 2-transitive internal layer in the almost-simple case. The nontrivial design interfaces are Paley or affine symplectic designs in the affine case, and projective designs, the 2-(11, 5, 2) design, the HigmanSims design, or their complements in the almost-simple case. The proper blocks have reduced rank at most four, whereas almost-simple proper blocks can have arbitrarily large reduced rank without the equal-width condition. We also give a stabilizer factorization criterion for assembling blocks while preserving endpoint-geodesic transitivity.