On prime-valent symmetric Cayley graphs of finite simple groups (Q2656895)

For a finite group \(G\) and a subset \(S\subset G\) with \(S=S^{-1}\), \(1\notin S\), the Cayley graph \(\Gamma=\mathrm{Cay}\,(G, S)\) of \(G\) with respect to \(S\) is defined as the graph with the vertex set \(G\) and the edge set \(\{\{g,sg\}\mid g\in G,s\in S\}\). The group \(G\) acting by right multiplication is a subgroup of the automorphism group of \(\Aut\Gamma\) and acts regularly on vertices. Hence, \(G\) can be regarded as a regular subgroup of \(\Aut\Gamma\). If \(G\) is normal in \(\Aut\Gamma\), then \(\mathrm{Cay}(G, S)\) is called a normal Cayley graph, otherwise it is called a non-normal Cayley graph. A graph \(\Gamma\) is called a symmetric if \(\Aut\Gamma\) acts transitively on set of all arcs of \(\Gamma\). As shown by \textit{S. J. Xu} et al. [Eur. J. Comb. 26, No. 1, 133--143 (2005; Zbl 1060.05043)], there exists a connected cubic symmetric non-normal Cayley graph on a finite non-abelian simple group \(G\) if and only if \(G = A_{47}\). \textit{J.-L. Du} et al. [Eur. J. Comb. 63, 134--145 (2017; Zbl 1365.05291)] obtained a list of all possible non-abelian simple groups on which there exist connected pentavalent symmetric non-normal Cayley graphs. There are 13 such non-abelian simple groups. Let \(G\) be a finite non-abelian simple group, let \(\Gamma=\mathrm{Cay}(G,S)\) be a connected \(p\)-valent symmetric Cayley graph on \(G\) with prime \(p\geq7\). The article under review deals with a characterization of the automorphism groups \(\Aut(\Gamma)\). In the proof, there is some recourse to the classification of finite simple groups. The authors actively use in their calculations the packages of the computer algebra system GAP and the computational group theory system Magma.