On large bipartite graphs of diameter 3

Abstract

We consider the bipartite version of the {\it degree/diameter problem}, namely, given natural numbers $d\ge 2$ and $D\ge 2$, find the maximum number ${\mathbb{N}}^b(d,D)$ of vertices in a bipartite graph of maximum degree $d$ and diameter $D$. In this context, the bipartite Moore bound $\M^b(d,D)$ represents a general upper bound for ${\mathbb{N}}^b(d,D)$. Bipartite graphs of order $\M^b(d,D)$ are very rare, and determining ${\mathbb{N}}^b(d,D)$ still remains an open problem for most $(d,D)$ pairs. This paper is a follow-up to our earlier paper \cite{FPV12}, where a study on bipartite $(d,D,-4)$-graphs (that is, bipartite graphs of order $\M^b(d,D)-4$) was carried out. Here we first present some structural properties of bipartite $(d,3,-4)$-graphs, and later prove there are no bipartite $(7,3,-4)$-graphs. This result implies that the known bipartite $(7,3,-6)$-graph is optimal, and therefore ${\mathbb{N}}^b(7,3)=80$. Our approach also bears a proof of the uniqueness of the known bipartite $(5,3,-4)$-graph, and the non-existence of bipartite $(6,3,-4)$-graphs. In addition, we discover three new largest known bipartite (and also vertex-transitive) graphs of degree 11, diameter 3 and order 190, result which improves by 4 vertices the previous lower bound for ${\mathbb{N}}^b(11,3)$.