The zero-divisor graph of a commutative ring (Q1305005)

The authors study properties of the graph \(\Gamma(R)\) of a commuting ring \(R\) (with \(1\)) defined on the set of nonzero zero-divisors with adjacency relation \((x,y)\in E\) if \(xy= 0\) noting that the class of such graphs is strongly restricted by the (commutative) ring properties of \(R\). They observe that \(\Gamma(R)\) has small diameter \((\leq 3)\) and small girth \((\leq 4)\) among other results. Other classes of algebras (e.g., BCK-algebras) with a \(0\) element permit the same definition, and produce (di)graphs of different and greater variety. An interesting problem from the graph theory point of view is to find a ``best class'' of algebras which permits any (di)graph \(\Gamma\) to be represented as \(\Gamma(A)\) for some \(A\) in this ``best class''.