Finite groups whose intersection graphs are planar

Abstract

Abstract. The intersection graph of a group G is an undirected graphwithout loops and multiple edges defined as follows: the vertex set is theset of all proper non-trivial subgroups of G, and there is an edge betweentwo distinct vertices Hand Kif and only if H∩K6= 1 where 1 denotes thetrivial subgroup of G.In this paper we characterize all finite groups whoseintersection graphs are planar. Our methods are elementary. Among thegraphs similar to the intersection graphs, we may count the subgrouplattice and the subgroup graph of a group, each of whose planarity wasalready considered before in [2, 10, 11, 12]. 1. Introduction and preliminariesA graph is called planar if it can be drawn on the plane in such a way thatits edges intersect only at their endpoints. There are interesting graphs con-structed from algebraic objects such as the subgroup lattice and the subgroupgraph of a group. Planarity of the subgroup lattice and the subgroup graph ofa group were studied by Bohanon and Reid in [2] and by Schmidt in [10, 11]and by Starr and Turner III in [12], and planarity of the intersection graph ofa module over any ring was studied in [13].Here we study planarity of the intersection graph of a finite group. Let G bea group. By the intersection graph of G we mean an undirected graph withoutloops and multiple edges defined as follows: the vertex set is the set of allproper non-trivial subgroups of G, and there is an edge between two distinctvertices H and K if and only if H∩K 6= 1 where 1 denotes the trivial subgroupof G.We call a group planar if its intersection graph is planar. For any naturalnumbers m and n, we use C