On decreasing the orders of $$(k,g)$$ ( k , g ) -graphs

A $$(k,g)$$ ( k , g ) -graph is a k-regular graph of girth $$g$$ g . Given $$k\ge 2$$ k ≥ 2 and $$g\ge 3$$ g ≥ 3 , $$(k,g)$$ ( k , g ) -graphs of infinitely many orders are known to exist and the problem of finding a (k, g)-graph of the smallest possible order is known as the Cage Problem. The aim of our paper is to develop systematic (programmable) ways for lowering the orders of existing $$(k,g)$$ ( k , g ) -graphs, while preserving their regularity and girth. Such methods, in analogy with the previously used excision, may have the potential for constructing smaller (k, g)-graphs from current smallest examples—record holders—some of which have not been improved in years. In addition, we consider constructions that preserve the regularity, the girth and the order of the considered graphs, but alter the graphs enough to possibly make them suitable for the application of our order decreasing methods. We include a detailed discussion of several specific parameter cases for which several non-isomorphic smallest examples are known to exist, and address the question of the distance between these non-isomorphic examples based on the number of changes required to move from one example to another.