Let . How many permutations are automorphisms of some tree?
Solution
We decompose into cycle types of . Note that within each cycle, all vertices have the same degree; also note that the tree has total degree 14 across its vertices (by all its seven edges). For any permutation that has a 1 in its cycle type (i.e it has a fixed point), let be a fixed point. Consider the tree that consists of the seven edges from to the seven other vertices - this permutation (with as a fixed point) is an automorphism of this tree. For any permutation that has cycle type , let and be the two elements in the 2-cycle. If the 6-cycle consists of in that order, consider the tree with edges between and and between and . It's easy to see is an automorphism of this tree. For any permutation that has cycle type , let and be the two elements of the first two-cycle. Let the other two cycle consist of and , and the four cycle be in that order. Then consider the tree with edges between and and and and and and and . It's easy to see is an automorphism of this tree. For any permutation that has cycle type , let and be the vertices in the 2-cycle. One of and must be connected to a vertex distinct from (follows from connectedness), so there must be an edge between a vertex in the 2-cycle and a vertex in a 3-cycle. Repeatedly applying to this edge leads to a cycle of length 4 in the tree, which is impossible (a tree has no cycles). Therefore, these permutations cannot be automorphisms of any tree. For any permutation that has cycle type , similarly, there must be an edge between a vertex in the 3-cycle and a vertex in the 5-cycle. Repeatedly applying to this edge once again leads to a cycle in the tree, which is not possible. So these permutations cannot be automorphisms of any tree. The only remaining possible cycle types of are and 8 . In the first case, if we let and be the degrees of the vertices in each of the cycles, then , which is impossible for integer . In the second case, if we let be the degree of the vertices in the 8-cycle, then , which is not possible either. So we are looking for the number of permutations whose cycle type is not . The number of permutations with cycle type is , with cycle type 8 is , with cycle type is , with cycle type is . Therefore, by complementary counting, the number of permutations that ARE automorphisms of some tree is 8 ! .