On distance-balanced generalized Petersen graphs

Abstract

A connected graph $G$ of diameter $\mathrm{diam}(G)\ge \ell$ is $\ell$-distance-balanced if $|W_{xy}|=|W_{yx}|$ for every $x,y\in V(G)$ with $d_G(x,y)=\ell$, where $W_{xy}$ is the set of vertices of $G$ that are closer to $x$ than to $y$. We prove that the generalized Petersen graph $GP(n,k)$ is $\mathrm{diam}(GP(n,k))$-distance-balanced provided that $n$ is large enough relative to $k$. This partially solves a conjecture posed by Miklavič and Šparl \cite{Miklavic:2018}. We also determine $\mathrm{diam}(GP(n,k))$ when $n$ is large enough relative to $k$.