Anosov automorphisms on compact nilmanifolds associated with graphs

We associate with each graph ( S, E) a 2- step simply connected nilpotent Lie group N and a lattice Gamma in N. We determine the group of Lie automorphisms of N and apply the result to describe a necessary and sufficient condition, in terms of the graph, for the compact nilmanifold N/Gamma to admit an Anosov automorphism. Using the criterion we obtain new examples of compact nilmanifolds admitting Anosov automorphisms, and conclude that for every n >= 17 there exist a n- dimensional 2- step simply connected nilpotent Lie group N which is indecomposable ( not a direct product of lower dimensional nilpotent Lie groups), and a lattice Gamma in N such that N/ Gamma admits an Anosov automorphism; we give also a lower bound on the number of mutually nonisomorphic Lie groups N of a given dimension, satisfying the condition. Necessary and sufficient conditions are also described for a compact nilmanifold as above to admit ergodic automorphisms.