Symmetric graph of a ring with involution (Q6157278)

Let \(R\) be a \(*\)-ring, that is, a ring with involution \(*\). An element \(x\in R\) is said to be a \(*\)-zero divisor of \(R\) if there exists \(0\not= y\in R\) such that \(xy = 0\) (or \(yx = 0\)) and \(yx^{*}= 0\). The set of all \(*\)-zero divisor of \(R\) is denoted by \(Z^{*}(R)\). The \(*\)-symmetric graph of \(R\), denoted by \(S\Gamma^{*}(R)\), is a simple graph with vertex set \(Z^{*}(R)\setminus\{0\}\) and two distinct vertices \(x\) and \(y\) are adjacent provided \((i)\) either \(xy = 0\) or \(yx = 0\) and \((ii)\) \(yx^{*} = 0\). The graph \(S\Gamma^{*}(R)\) is a generalization of the well known zero-divisor graph of \(R\). This paper studies some graph theoretical properties of the \(*\)-symmetric graph. A first result states that \(Z^{*}(R)\) is finite if and only if either \(R\) is finite or \(Z^{*}(R)=\emptyset\). A second result provides some sufficient conditions for the connectedness of \(S\Gamma^{*}(R)\). It states that if \(R = S\times S\) (where \(S\) is a commutative ring) with \((x,y)^{*} = (y,x)\) as an involution, then \(S\Gamma^{*}(R)\) is connected and \(diam(S\Gamma^{*}(R))\leq 4\). The authors also proved that if \(R_{1}\), \(R_{2}\) are two \(*\)-rings with \(Z^{*}(R_{1})\not=\emptyset\), \(Z^{*}(R_{2})\not=\emptyset\), and \(R = R_{1}\oplus R_{2}\) is a \(*\)-ring with a componentwise involution, then \(S\Gamma^{*}(R)\) is connected and \(diam(S\Gamma^{*}(R))\leq 4\). The paper closes with a section on Beck's type \(*\)-symmetric graph of a \(*\)-ring \(R\), denoted by \(S\Gamma_{0}^{*}(R)\). Among others, it is proved that for a \(*\)-prime ring \(R\), the following conditions are equivalent:\\ \((i)\) \(R\) is a \(*\)-compressible ring; \((ii)\) \(S\Gamma_{0}^{*}(R)\) is a star graph; \((iii)\) \(S\Gamma_{0}^{*}(R)\) is a tree.