Distinguishing labeling of the actions of almost simple groups. (Q663093)

Let \(\Gamma\) be a finite group. Given an action of \(\Gamma\) on a set \(X\), a labelling \(f\colon X\to\{1,\dots,r\}\) is called distinguishing if for every nontrivial element \(g\in\Gamma\) there is \(x\in X\) such that \(f(x)\neq f(x^g)\). The smallest \(r\) for which such a labelling exists is called the distinguishing number of the action. The set of all these numbers for various faithful actions of \(\Gamma\) is denoted by \(D^*(\Gamma)\). The distinguishing number of a graph \(X\) is the distinguishing number of the action of the automorphism group of \(X\) on the vertex set of \(X\). The distinguishing set \(D(\Gamma)\) is the set of distinguishing numbers of graphs with automorphism group isomorphic to \(\Gamma\). The authors determine \(D^*(\Gamma)\) and \(D(\Gamma)\) for almost simple groups \(\Gamma\).