Bipartite Biregular Cages and Block Designs

Abstract

A bipartite biregular $(n,m;g)$-graph $G$ is a bipartite graph of even girth $g$ having the degree set $\{n,m\}$ and satisfying the additional property that the vertices in the same partite set have the same degree. An $(n,m;g)$-bipartite biregular cage is a bipartite biregular $(n,m;g)$-graph of minimum order. In their 2019 paper, Filipovski, Ramos-Rivera and Jajcay present lower bounds on the orders of bipartite biregular $(n,m;g)$-graphs, and call the graphs that attain these bounds {\em bipartite biregular Moore cages}. In parallel with the well-known classical results relating the existence of $k$-regular Moore graphs of even girths $g = 6,8 $ and $12$ to the existence of projective planes, generalized quadrangles, and generalized hexagons, we prove that the existence of $S(2,k,v)$-Steiner systems yields the existence of bipartite biregular $(k,\frac{v-1}{k-1};6)$-Moore cages. Moreover, in the special case of Steiner triple systems (i.e., in the case $k=3$), we completely solve the problem of the existence of $(3,m;6)$-bipartite biregular cages for all integers $m\geq 4$. Considering girths higher than $6$ and prime powers $s$, we relate the existence of generalized polygons (quadrangles, hexagons and octagons) with the existence of $(n+1,n^2+1;8)$, $(n+1,n^3+1;12)$, and $(n+1,n^2+1;16)$-bipartite biregular Moore cages, respectively. Using this connection, we derive improved upper bounds for the orders of bipartite biregular cages of girths $8$, $12$ and $14$.