m-distance-regular graphs and their relation to multivariate P-polynomial association schemes

Abstract: An association scheme is $P$-polynomial if and only if it consists of the distance matrices of a distance-regular graph. Recently, bivariate $P$-polynomial association schemes of type $(\alpha,\beta)$ were introduced by Bernard et al., and multivariate $P$-polynomial association schemes were later defined by Bannai et al. In this paper, the notion of $m$-distance-regular graph is defined and shown to give a graph interpretation of the multivariate $P$-polynomial association schemes. Various examples are provided. Refined structures and additional constraints for multivariate $P$-polynomial association schemes and $m$-distance-regular graphs are also considered. In particular, bivariate $P$-polynomial schemes of type $(\alpha, \beta)$ are discussed, and their connection to 2-distance-regular graphs is established.