Hypergraphs for computing determining sets of Kneser graphs

Abstract

A set of vertices $S$ is a \emph{determining set} of a graph $G$ if every automorphism of $G$ is uniquely determined by its action on $S$. The \emph{determining number} of $G$ is the minimum cardinality of a determining set of $G$. This paper studies determining sets of Kneser graphs from a hypergraph perspective. This new technique lets us compute the determining number of a wide range of Kneser graphs, concretely $K_{n:k}$ with $n\ge \frac{k(k+1)}{2}+1$. We also show its usefulness by giving shorter proofs of the characterization of all Kneser graphs with fixed determining number 2, 3 or 4, going even further to fixed determining number 5. We finally establish for which Kneser graphs $K_{n:k}$ the determining number is equal to $n-k$, answering a question posed by Boutin.