A table of Exceptional Groups acting on possibly Distance-Transitive Graphs

The table below represents the state of the art of the joint work by AMC, Martin Liebeck and Jan Saxl to classify the graphs on which an almost simple group of exceptional Lie type acts distance transitively. Ross Lawther's influence is clearly visible. The subgroups listed should be all those whose index in the overgroup is at most a number determined by a result on DTG's (roughly the square root of the order of the overgroup).
last update September 2002 to survey

group subgroup status comment action

2G2(q) 2× L(2,q)not MF proof in paper; char table, Ward... 
3D4(q) G2(q)not MFin Ross Lawther notesJS
3D4(q) 3D4(q1/2)not MF by Lawther, Durham Proc LMS
3D4(q) N(A1(q)· A1(q3)))not MF our orbits on hex argumentML
3D4(2) 72 2Alt4no dtgnot mf(?) arg on paperfinite
3D4(2) 31+22Sym4no dtgnot mf(?), arg on paperfinite
3D4(2) (7× L3(2))2no dtg? not mf(?)finite
G2(q) SL3eps(q)2is MF but no dtg MF by LPS 2 closures; no dtg by 2-closureJS
G2(q) G2(q1/2)not MF if p != 3; MF if p=3 with graph autosee [Lp] for subdegreesAMC
G2(q) 2G2(q)p=3, MF see Lawther G2 LMS proc, need to investigate dtgAMC
G2(q) N(A1(q)· A1(q)))no dtg hex argumentJS
G2(4) J2 rank 3 see Atlas, Suz towerfinite
G2(q).graph Borel.graphis Gen 12-gon of order (q,1)p=3 
2F4(2)' L(2,25)MF but no dtg char has non-real constituents (also with auto?)finite
2F4(2)' L(3,3)2no dtgsubdegrees possibilities computedfinite
2F4(2)' Alt62not MF by inner product computationsfinite
2F4(2)' 52 4 Alt4 ?see Atlas?finite
F4(q) B4(q)MF but no dtg Ross L., see paper in J. AlgebraAMC
F4(q) D4(q). Sym3not MF except for q=2Ross Lawther: to be written upRL
F4(2) D4(2). Sym3??finite
F4(q) 3D4(q).3not MFRoss Lawther: to be written upRL
F4(q) F4(q1/2) not MFRoss Lawther: [Ld] 
F4(q) 2F4(q)not MF q=2*,. Proof by Ross Lawther in [Ld]
F4(2) L4(3)2?have GAP characterfinite
F4(q).graph parab A1(q)A1(q).graphnot MFq even; see Lawther Sep 2002 
F4(q).graph parab B2(q).graphnot MFq even; see Lawther Sep 2002 
E6eps(q) N(A1(q)A5eps(q))?q odd:~involution centralizerML
E6eps(q) N(A1(q)A5eps(q))not MFIvanov argumentML
E6eps(q) N(D5eps(q))=D5eps(q)T1epsnot DTG?torus contains centre of E6; van Bon's kernel chainJS
E6(q) E6delta(q1/2)not MFsee [Ld]AMC
E6eps(q) F4(q) MF see [Lb], with subdegrees given on pp. 134 and 143AMC
E6eps(q) C4(q)no dtgq odd by max. subgp cond; see invol arg on paperML
E6-(2) Fi22no dtg? have page from Norton with subdegrees; there is Saxl arg for unimodalityJS
E6(q).graph parab A5(q).graphnot MFsee Lawther Sep 2002 
E6(q).graph parab D4(q).graphnot MFsee Lawther Sep 2002 
E6(q).graph parab A2(q)A1(q)A1(q).graphnot MFsee Lawther Sep 2002 
E7(q) N(E6eps(q)) = E6epsTeps1?if q is odd, the involution centralizer trick works; try van Bon's kernel chainML
E7(q) E6epsTeps12q even: Y trick gives q = 2, 4ML
E7(q) N(A1(q)D6(q)) not MF by orbit arg paper 87 ML
E7(q)E7(q1/2) not MF [Ld]  
E7(q) N(A7(q))=A7(q)2 not MF by orbits on roots arg 1987ML
E7(q) N(A7-(q2))=A7-(q2)?if q odd, the involution centralizer trick worksML
E7(q) A7-(q2)? q even: Y=C4 trick works for q not 2 or 4;spherical so get finite mults on unipot charML
E7(q) A7-(q2)?q=2,4finite
E8(q) N(D8(q)) not MF by root study 1987 JS
E8(q) N(A1(q)E7(q))not MF by Section e8ona1e7 JS
E8(q) E8(q1/2)not MF [Ld]