Odd automorphisms in vertex-transitive graphs

Abstract

An automorphism of a graph is said to be even/odd if it acts on the set of vertices as an even/odd permutation. In this article we pose the problem of determining which vertex-transitive graphs admit odd automorphisms. Partial results for certain classes of vertex-transitive graphs, in particular for Cayley graphs, are given. As a consequence, a characterization of arc-transitive circulants without odd automorphisms is obtained.