On subgroup perfect codes in vertex-transitive graphs

Abstract

A subset $C$ of the vertex set $V$ of a graph $\Gamma$ is called a perfect code in $\Gamma$ if every vertex in $V\setminus C$ is adjacent to exactly one vertex in $C$. Given a group $G$ and a subgroup $H$ of $G$, a subgroup $A$ of $G$ containing $H$ is called a perfect code of the pair $(G,H)$ if there exists a coset graph $\mathrm{Cos}(G,H,U)$ such that the set of left cosets of $H$ in $A$ is a perfect code in $\mathrm{Cos}(G,H,U)$. In particular, $A$ is called a perfect code of $G$ if $A$ is a perfect code of the pair $(G,1)$. In this paper, we give a characterization of $A$ to be a perfect code of the pair $(G,H)$ under the assumption that $H$ is a perfect code of $G$. As a corollary, we derive an additional sufficient and necessary condition for $A$ to be a perfect code of $G$. Moreover, we establish conditions under which $A$ is not a perfect code of $(G,H)$, which is applied to construct infinitely many counterexamples to a question posed by Wang and Zhang [\emph{J.~Combin.~Theory~Ser.~A}, 196 (2023) 105737]. Furthermore, we initiate the study of determining which maximal subgroups of $S_n$ are perfect codes.