Minimal Isometric Embeddings of Graphs into Cayley Graphs of Finite Abelian Groups

Abstract

We study when, and how compactly, a finite connected graph (G) embeds isometrically into a Cayley graph of a finite abelian group. The classical theory of partial cubes answers this for isometric subgraphs of hypercubes through the Djokovic-Winkler relation (\theta); we extend the question to the full family of abelian Cayley graphs, whose hosts may carry composite generators and cyclic factors of any order. We introduce an involutive edge relation (\varphi), defined by two simultaneous distance equalities, which coincides with (\theta) exactly on partial cubes and remains informative beyond them, together with an oriented relation (\Phi) for non-involutive hosts, where generator classes are constrained to be partial permutations rather than matchings.The central result is a quotient labeling theorem: for any partition of the edge set into candidate generator classes, the most generic consistent vertex labeling is the quotient of the free module on the classes by the lattice of signed cycle-class incidences, computed by the Smith normal form; the binary case is its reduction modulo two. We prove that the finest partition always yields an isometric labeling, that compactifying the resulting universal group is itself an instance of the same quotient construction, and that the whole construction is algorithmic and certifiable. Worked examples include the triangle, the Petersen graph (embedding into the Clebsch graph of order 16), the Pappus graph (a 1024-fold compaction), and the diamond (a non-diagonal fold). Sharp dimension bounds and an exhaustive census of small graphs are developed in a companion paper. 2020 MSC: 05C12, 05C25, 20K01, 05C50