On the 486-Vertex Distance-Regular Graphs of Koolen-Riebeek and Soicher

Abstract

This paper considers three imprimitive distance-regular graphs with $486$ vertices and diameter $4$: the Koolen--Riebeek graph (which is bipartite), the Soicher graph (which is antipodal), and the incidence graph of a symmetric transversal design obtained from the affine geometry $\mathrm{AG}(5,3)$ (which is both). It is shown that each of these is preserved by the same rank-$9$ action of the group $3^5:(2\times M_{10})$, and the connection is explained using the ternary Golay code.