Isoperimetric Numbers of Cayley Graphs; Arising from Generalized Dihedral Groups

Let \(n, x\) be positive integers satisfying \(1 < x < n\). Let \(H_{n,x}\) be a group admitting a presentation of the form \(\langle a, b \mid a^n = b^2 = (ba)^x = 1 \rangle\). When \(x = 2\) the group \(H_{n,x}\) is the familiar dihedral group, \(D_{2n}\). Groups of the form \(H_{n,x}\) will be referred to as generalized dihedral groups. It is possible to associate a cubic Cayley graph to each such group, and we consider the problem of finding the isoperimetric number, \(i(G)\), of these graphs. In section two we prove some propositions about isoperimetric numbers of regular graphs. In section three the special cases when \(x = 2, 3\) are analyzed. The former case is solved completely. An upper bound, based on an analysis of the cycle structure of the graph, is given in the latter case. Generalizations of these results are provided in section four. The indices of these graphs are calculated in section five, and a lower bound on \(i(G)\) is obtained as a result. We conclude with several conjectures suggested by the results from earlier sections.