On the diameter of Engel graphs (Q6972695)

This article investigates the diameter of Engel graphs associated with finite groups. Given a finite group \(G\), the Engel graph \(\Gamma(G)\) is the directed graph whose vertices are the non-hypercentral elements of \(G\), with an arc from \(x\) to \(y\) whenever there exists \(n \in \mathbb{N}\) such that \([x,{}_n y] = 1\).\N\NExtending previous work on strong connectivity, the authors establish absolute bounds for the directed diameter of \(\Gamma(G)\): namely, a general upper bound of \(16\), improved to \(12\) when the quotient \(G/Z_\infty(G)\) is not almost simple. The proof combines structural results on finite groups with graph-theoretic methods, notably using properties of commuting graphs, Engel elements and the Fitting series.