Diameter preserving surjections in the geometry of matrices (Q927783)

Let \(\Gamma\) be a graph without loops and with at least one vertex. The set of vertices (points) of \(\Gamma\) is denoted \({\mathcal P}\). Points \(x,y\in{\mathcal P}\) are adjacent if \(\{x,y\}\) is an edge, their distance \(d(x, y)= 1\). Let us assume that the following conditions are satisfied for points of \({\mathcal P}\): {\parindent=8mm \begin{itemize}\item[(A1)]\(\Gamma\) is connected and its diameter \(\text{diam\,}\Gamma\) is finite. \item[(A2)]For any points \(x\), \(y\) there is a point \(z\) with \(d(x, z)= d (x,y)+ d (y, z)= \text{diam\,}F\). \item[(A3)]For any points \(x\), \(y\), \(z\) with \(d(x, z)= d(y,z)= 1\) and \(d(x, y)= 2\) there is a point \(w\) satisfying \(d(x, w)= d (y, w)= 1\) and \(d(z, w)= 2\). \item[(A4)]For any points \(x\), \(y\), \(z\) with \(x\neq y\) and \(d(x, z)= d(y, z)= \text{diam}\,F\) there is a point \(w\) with \(d(z, w)= 1\), \(d(x, w)= \text{diam}\,\Gamma- 1\) and \(d(y, w)= \text{diam}\, \Gamma\). \item[(A5)]For any adjacent points \(a\), \(b\) there exists a point \(p\in{\mathcal P}\setminus\{a, b\}\) such that for all points \(x\) holds: \(d(x, p)= \text{diam}\,\Gamma\Rightarrow d(x, a)= \text{diam}\,\Gamma\vee d(x, b)= \text{diam}\,\Gamma\). \end{itemize}} The main result of the present article is: Let \(\Gamma\) and \(\Gamma'\) be two graphs satisfying conditions (A1)--(A5). If \(\Phi:{\mathcal P}\to{\mathcal P}'\) is a surjection which satisfies \(d(x, y)= \text{diam\,} \Gamma\Leftrightarrow d(x^\Phi, y^\Phi)=\text{diam\,}\Gamma'\) for all \(x,y\in{\mathcal P}\), then \(\Phi\) is an isomorphism of graphs. Consequently \(\text{diam}\,\Gamma= \text{diam}\,\Gamma'\). This result is applied to the graphs arising from the adjacency relation of spaces of retrangular matrices, spaces of Hermitian matrices, and Grassman spaces.