On two extensions of the classical zero-divisor graph (Q2180122)

Let \(R\) be a commutative and \(Z^*(R)\) be the set of all non-zero zero-divisor in \(R.\) The zero-divisor graph \(\Gamma(R)\) is a simple undirected graph with vertex set \(Z^*(R)\) and two distinct vertices \(x\) and \(y\) are adjacent if \(a.b=0\) in \(R.\) The concept of zero-divisor was introduced by \textit{I. Beck} [J. Algebra 116, No. 1, 208--226 (1988; Zbl 0654.13001)] and formally redefined by \textit{D. F. Anderson} and \textit{P. S. Livingston} [J. Algebra 217, No. 2, 434--447 (1999; Zbl 0941.05062)]. The annihilator graph of a commutative ring was introduced and studied by \textit{A. Badawi} [Commun. Algebra 42, No. 1, 108--121 (2014; Zbl 1295.13006)]. In fact, annihilator graph of \(R\) is a simple undirected graph with vertex set \(Z^*(R)\) and two distinct vertices \(x\) and \(y\) are adjacent if \(\mathrm{Ann}_R(xy)\neq \mathrm{Ann}_R(x)\cup \mathrm{Ann}_R(y).\) The extended zero-divisor graph of \(R,\) denoted by \(\overline{\Gamma}(R)\) is the simple graph associated to \(R\) such that its vertex set consists of all its nonzero zero-divisors and two distinct vertices \(x\) and \(y\) are joined by an edge if and only if there exist two nonnegative integers \(n\) and \(m\) such that \(x^ny^m = 0\) with \(x^n\neq 0\) and \(y^m\neq 0.\) This concept of extended zero-divisor graph was defined by the last three authors [Turk. J. Math. 40, No. 2, 376--388 (2016; Zbl 1424.13005)]. Both extended zero-divisor graph and annhilator graph are super graphs of the zero-divisor graph. In this paper, the authors study the interrelationship between the extended zero-divisor graph and annihilator graph of commutative rings. First, it is shown that the extended graph \(\overline{\Gamma}(R)\) of \(R\) is a subgraph of the annihilator graph \(AG(R)\) and in the remaining part of the paper, the authors are interested in when \(\overline{\Gamma}(R)=AG(R).\) Actually after giving a necessary condition for \(\overline{\Gamma}(R)=AG(R)\), the authors provide a necessary and sufficient condition for \(\overline{\Gamma}(R)=AG(R)\) under the assumption that \(\overline{\Gamma}(R)\neq \Gamma(R).\)