On k-geodetic graphs and groups

Abstract

We call a graph k-geodetic, for some [Formula: see text], if it is connected and between any two vertices there are at most k geodesics. It is shown that any hyperbolic group with a k-geodetic Cayley graph is virtually-free. Furthermore, in such a group the centralizer of any infinite order element is an infinite cyclic group. These results were known previously only in the case that [Formula: see text]. A key tool used to develop the theorem is a new graph theoretic result concerning “ladder-like structures” in a k-geodetic graph.