Vertex-primitive \(s\)-arc-transitive digraphs admitting a Suzuki or Ree group (Q6171502)

A finite \textit{digraph} \(\Gamma\) is a pair \((V,\to)\) such that \(V\) is the finite set of vertices and \(\to\) is an anti-symmetric and irreflexive relation on \(V\). For a non-negative integer \(s\), we call a sequence \(v_{0}, v_{1},\dots, v_{s}\) in \(V\) an \textit{\(s\)-arc} if \(v_{i}\to v_{i+1}\) for each \(i\in\{0,1,\dots,s-1\}\). A \(1\)-arc is simply called an \textit{arc}. For \(G\leqslant \mathrm{Aut}(\Gamma)\), we say that \(\Gamma\) is a \((G,s)\)-arc-transitive digraph if \(G\) acts transitively on the set of \(s\)-arcs of \(\Gamma\). A transitive subgroup \(G\leqslant \mathrm{Sym}(\Omega)\) is said to be primitive if it does not preserve any non-trivial partition of \(\Omega\). For \(G\leqslant \mathrm{Aut}(\Gamma)\), we say that \(\Gamma\) is \textit{\(G\)-vertex-primitive} if \(G\) acts primitively on \(V\). A graph \(\Sigma\) is a pair \((V,\sim)\) such that \(V\) is the vertex set and \(\sim\) is a symmetric and irreflexive relation on \(V\). A sequence \(v_{0}, v_{1},\ldots, v_{s}\) is an \textit{\(s\)-arc} if \(v_{i}\sim v_{i+1}\) for \(0\leq i\leq s-1\) and \(v_{i}\neq v_{i+2}\) for each \(i\). A graph \(\Sigma\) is said to \textit{\(s\)-arc-transitive} if the automorphism group of \(\Sigma\) acts transitively on the set of \(s\)-arcs. A group \(G\) is said to be an \textit{almost simple group} with socle \(T\) if \(T\triangleleft G\leqslant \mathrm{Aut}(T)\), where \(T\) is a non-abelian simple group. The \(s\)-arc-transitive graphs and digraphs have been extensively studied for many years. \textit{R. Weiss} [Combinatorica 1, 309--311 (1981; Zbl 0486.05032)] proved that finite graphs that are not cycles can be at most 7-arc-transitive. The investigation of \(s\)-arc-transitivity of digraphs can be dated back to 1989 when \textit{C. E. Praeger} [Eur. J. Comb. 10, No. 3, 281--292 (1989; Zbl 0677.05041)] showed that for each \(s\) there are infinitely many finite \(s\)-arc-transitive digraphs that are not \((s+1)\)-arc-transitive, that is to say, \(s\) can be arbitrarily large if the action on vertices is imprimitive. However, vertex-primitive \(s\)-arc-transitive digraphs for large \(s\) seem to be rare. Though extensive attempts had been made to find a vertex-primitive \(s\)-arc-transitive digraph for \(s\geq2\), no such examples were found until 2017 when \textit{M. Giudici} et al. [J. Comb. Theory, Ser. B 127, 1--13 (2017; Zbl 1371.05103)] constructed an infinite family of \(2\)-arc transitive examples. They also asked \textit{if there is an upper bound on \(s\) for vertex-primitive \(s\)-arc-transitive digraphs that are not directed cycles}. The authors are in believe that the answer to this question is yes. Indeed, by Corollary 1.6 in [\textit{M. Giudici} and \textit{B. Xia}, Ars Math. Contemp. 14, No. 1, 67--82 (2018; Zbl 1391.05124)], determining the value of the upper bound has been reduced to the case where the vertex-primitive automorphism group \(G\) is almost simple. It has been shown that \(s\leqslant 2\) if \(G=\mathrm{A}_{m}\) or \(\mathrm{S}_{m}\) [\textit{J. Chen} et al., ``Bounding $s$ for vertex-primitive $s$-arc-transitive digraphs of alternating and symmetric groups'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:2111.06579}; \textit{J. Pan} et al., J. Algebra 544, 75--91 (2020; Zbl 1480.20004)], or if \(\mathrm{PSL}_{n}(q)\leqslant G\leqslant \mathrm{Aut}(\mathrm{PSL}_{n}(q))\) [\textit{M. Giudici} et al., J. Pure Appl. Algebra 223, No. 12, 5455--5483 (2019; Zbl 1417.05085)]. In this paper, the authors give an affirmative answer to this question for two more families of almost simple groups. They in fact prove that \(s\leq1\) when the vertex-primitive automorphism group is an almost simple group with socle the Suzuki group or the small Ree group. The authors give constructions with \(s=1\) to show that the bound is sharp.