The commuting graphs of some subsets in the quaternion algebra over the ring of integers modulo N

Abstract

Let R be an arbitrary ring, S be a subset of R, and Z(S) = {s ∈ S | sx = xs for every x ∈ S}. The commuting graph of S, denoted by Γ(S), is the graph with vertex set S \ Z(S) such that two different vertices x and y are adjacent if and only if xy = yx. In this paper, let I _n , N _n be the sets of all idempotents, nilpotent elements in the quaternion algebra ℤ _n [i, j, k], respectively. We completely determine Γ(I _n ) and Γ(N _n ). Moreover, it is proved that for n ≥ 2, Γ(I _n ) is connected if and only if n has at least two odd prime factors, while Γ(N _n ) is connected if and only if n ∈ 2, 2², p, 2p for all odd primes p.