Vertex-transitive graph
| Graph families defined by their automorphisms | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| distance-transitive | → | distance-regular | ← | strongly regular |
| ↓ | ||||
| symmetric (arc-transitive) | ← | t-transitive, t ≥ 2 | skew-symmetric | |
| ↓ | ||||
| (if connected) vertex- and edge-transitive |
→ | edge-transitive and regular | → | edge-transitive |
| ↓ | ↓ | ↓ | ||
| vertex-transitive | → | regular | → | (if bipartite) biregular |
| ↑ | ||||
| Cayley graph | ← | zero-symmetric | asymmetric | |
In the mathematical field of graph theory, an automorphism is a permutation of the vertices such that edges are mapped to edges and non-edges are mapped to non-edges. A graph is a vertex-transitive graph if, given any two vertices v1 and v2 of G, there is an automorphism f such that
In other words, a graph is vertex-transitive if its automorphism group acts transitively on its vertices. A graph is vertex-transitive if and only if its graph complement is, since the group actions are identical.
Every symmetric graph without isolated vertices is vertex-transitive, and every vertex-transitive graph is regular. However, not all vertex-transitive graphs are symmetric (for example, the edges of the truncated tetrahedron), and not all regular graphs are vertex-transitive (for example, the Frucht graph and Tietze's graph).