Generalized Grassmann graphs associated to conjugacy classes of finite-rank self-adjoint operators

Abstract

Two distinct projections of finite rank m are adjacent if their difference is an operator of rank two or, equivalently, the intersection of their images is (m−1)-dimensional. We extend this adjacency relation on other conjugacy classes of finite-rank self-adjoint operators which leads to a natural generalization of Grassmann graphs. Let C be a conjugacy class formed by finite-rank self-adjoint operators with eigenspaces of dimension greater than 1. Under the assumption that operators from C have at least three eigenvalues we prove that every automorphism of the corresponding generalized Grassmann graph is the composition of an automorphism induced by a unitary or anti-unitary operator and the automorphism obtained from a permutation of eigenspaces with the same dimensions. The case when the operators from C have two eigenvalues only is covered by classical Chow's theorem which says that there are graph automorphisms induced by semilinear automorphisms not preserving orthogonality.