A generalization of the unit and unitary Cayley graphs of a commutative ring (Q2392059)

Let \(A\) be an abelian group and \(C\subseteq A\). Then the Cayley graph Cay\((A,C)\) is the graph with vertex set \(A\) and edge set \(\{(a,b)\mid a-b\in C\}\). A similar concept is the Cayley sum graph Cay\(^+(A,C)\) with the same vertex set \(A\) and edge set \(\{(a,b)\mid a+b\in C\}\). While Cayley graphs are widely studied, there are only a few publications regarding Cayley sum graphs (see for example [\textit{D. Grynkiewicz} et al., Electron. Notes Discrete Math. 29, 135--139 (2007; Zbl 1259.05098)]). For a commutative ring \(R\) with identity let \(U(R)\) be the unit group of \(R\). Then the graphs \(\mathrm{Cay}^+(R,U(R))\) and \(\mathrm{Cay}(R,U(R))\) are called the unit Cayley graph and the unitary Cayley graph of \(R\), respectively. Basic properties of such graphs were investigated by \textit{N. Ashrafi} et al. [Commun. Algebra 38, No. 8, 2851--2871 (2010; Zbl 1219.05150)], \textit{R. Akhtar} et al. [Electron. J. Comb. 16, No. 1, R117 (2009; Zbl 1230.05149)] and \textit{C. Lanski} and \textit{A. Maróti} [Cent. Eur. J. Math. 7, No. 3, 395--399 (2009; Zbl 1185.16026)]. The unit and the unitary graphs of a ring show a similar behaviour, but in general they are not isomorphic. This motivated the authors to introduce a common generalization of these graphs as follows. Let \(R\) be a commutative ring with identity, let \(G\) be a subgroup of \(U(R)\) and \(S\subseteq G\) non-empty such that \(S^{-1}=\{s^{-1}\mid s\in S\}\subseteq S\). Then \(\Gamma(R,G,S)\) is the graph with vertex set \(R\) and edge set \(\{(x,y)\mid x\neq y \text{ and } \exists s\in S \text{ such that } x+sy\in G\}\). The paper studies some graph-theoretical properties of \(\Gamma(R,G,S)\) like connectedness or diameter. In particular, a complete list of those Artinian rings are given for which the graph \(\Gamma(R,U(R),S)\) is a planar graph.