The spectral radius of graphs without paths and cycles of specified length

Let G be a graph with n vertices and μ(G) be the largest eigenvalue of the adjacency matrix of G. We study how large μ(G) can be when G does not contain cycles and paths of specified order. In particular, we determine the maximum spectral radius of graphs without paths of given length, and give tight bounds on the spectral radius of graphs without given even cycles. We also raise a number of open problems.     

Bicyclic graphs for which the least eigenvalue is minimum

The spread of a graph is defined to be the difference between the greatest eigenvalue and the least eigenvalue of the adjacency matrix of the graph. In this paper we determine the unique graph with minimum least eigenvalue among all connected bicyclic graphs of order n. Also, we determine the unique graph with maximum spread in this class for each n?28.     

Star complements and exceptional graphs

Let G be a finite graph of order n with an eigenvalue μ of multiplicity k. (Thus the μ-eigenspace of a (0,1)-adjacency matrix of G has dimension k.) A star complement for μ in G is an induced subgraph G-X of G such that |X|=k and G-X does not have μ as an eigenvalue. An exceptional graph is a connected graph, other than a generalized line graph, whose eigenvalues lie in [-2,∞). We establish some properties of star complements, and of eigenvectors, of exceptional graphs with least eigenvalue −2.     

On eigenvalue multiplicity and the girth of a graph

Suppose that G is a connected graph of order n and girth g<n. Let k be the multiplicity of an eigenvalue μ of G. Sharp upper bounds for k are n-g+2 when μ∈{-1,0}, and n-g otherwise. The graphs attaining these bounds are described.     

The spectra of some families of digraphs

Let G be a digraph (or a graph, when seen as a symmetric digraph) with adjacency matrix A, having the eigenvalue λ with associated eigenvector v. As it is well known, the entries of v can be interpreted as charges in each vertex. Then, the linear transformation v ? Av corresponds to a natural displacement of charges, where each vertex sends a copy of its charge to its in-neighbors and absorbs a copy of the charges of its out-neighbors, so the resulting charge distribution is just λv. In this work we use this approach to derive some old and new results about the spectral characterization of G. More precisely, we show how to obtain the spectra of some families of (di)graphs, such as the partial line digraphs and the line graphs of regular or semiregular graphs.     

The least eigenvalue of graphs with given connectivity

Let G be a simple graph and A(G) be the adjacency matrix of G. The eigenvalues of G are those of A(G). In this paper, we characterize the graphs with the minimal least eigenvalue among all graphs of fixed order with given vertex connectivity or edge connectivity.     

Geometric aspects of 2-walk-regular graphs

A t-walk-regular graph is a graph for which the number of walks of given length between two vertices depends only on the distance between these two vertices, as long as this distance is at most t. Such graphs generalize distance-regular graphs and t-arc-transitive graphs. In this paper, we will focus on 1- and in particular 2-walk-regular graphs, and study analogues of certain results that are important for distance-regular graphs. We will generalize Delsarte?s clique bound to 1-walk-regular graphs, Godsil?s multiplicity bound and Terwilliger?s analysis of the local structure to 2-walk-regular graphs. We will show that 2-walk-regular graphs have a much richer combinatorial structure than 1-walk-regular graphs, for example by proving that there are finitely many non-geometric 2-walk-regular graphs with given smallest eigenvalue and given diameter (a geometric graph is the point graph of a special partial linear space); a result that is analogous to a result on distance-regular graphs. Such a result does not hold for 1-walk-regular graphs, as our construction methods will show.     

On graphs whose star sets are (co-)cliques

In this paper we study graphs all of whose star sets induce cliques or co-cliques. We show that the star sets of every tree for each eigenvalue are independent sets. Among other results it is shown that each star set of a connected graph G with three distinct eigenvalues induces a clique if and only if G=K_1,2 or K_2,…,2. It is also proved that stars are the only graphs with three distinct eigenvalues having a star partition with independent star sets.     

On the nullity of tricyclic graphs

The nullity of a graph G, denoted by η(G), is the multiplicity of the eigenvalue zero in its spectrum. It is known that η(G)?n-2 if G is a simple graph on n vertices and G is not isomorphic to nK₁. The extremal graphs attaining the upper bound n-2 and the second upper bound n-3 have been obtained. In this paper, the graphs with nullity n-4 are characterized. Furthermore the tricyclic graphs with maximum nullity are discussed.     

Computing tight upper bounds on the algebraic connectivity of certain graphs

A generalized Bethe tree is a rooted unweighted tree in which vertices at the same level have the same degree. Let B be a generalized Bethe tree. The algebraic connectivity of:

the generalized Bethe tree B,

a tree obtained from the union of B and a tree T isomorphic to a subtree of B such that the root vertex of T is the root vertex of B,

a tree obtained from the union of r generalized Bethe trees joined at their respective root vertices,

a graph obtained from the cycle C_r by attaching B, by its root, to each vertex of the cycle, and

a tree obtained from the path P_r by attaching B, by its root, to each vertex of the path,

is the smallest eigenvalue of a special type of symmetric tridiagonal matrices. In this paper, we first derive a procedure to compute a tight upper bound on the smallest eigenvalue of this special type of matrices. Finally, we apply the procedure to obtain a tight upper bound on the algebraic connectivity of the above mentioned graphs.

     

On tricyclic graphs whose second largest eigenvalue does not exceed 1

A tricyclic graph of order n is a connected graph with n vertices and n + 2 edges. In this paper, all tricyclic graphs whose second largest eigenvalue does not exceed 1 are identified.     

On multiple eigenvalues of trees

Let T be a tree of order n>6 with μ as a positive eigenvalue of multiplicity k. Star complements are used to show that (i) if k>n/3 then μ=1, (ii) if μ=1 then, without restriction on has k+1 pendant edges that form an induced matching. The results are used to identify the trees with a non-zero eigenvalue of maximum possible multiplicity.     

On the nullity of bicyclic graphs

The nullity of a graph is the multiplicity of the eigenvalue zero in its spectrum. In this paper, we obtain the nullity set of bicyclic graphs of order n, and determine the bicyclic graphs with maximum nullity.     

The largest eigenvalue of unicyclic graphs

Let G be a simple graph. Let λ₁(G) and μ₁(G) denote the largest eigenvalue of the adjacency matrix and the Laplacian matrix of G, respectively. Let Δ denote the largest vertex degree. If G has just one cycle, then

     

A sharp upper bound on algebraic connectivity using domination number

Let G be a connected graph of order n. The algebraic connectivity of G is the second smallest eigenvalue of the Laplacian matrix of G. A dominating set in G is a vertex subset S such that each vertex of G that is not in S is adjacent to a vertex in S. The least cardinality of a dominating set is the domination number. In this paper, we prove a sharp upper bound on the algebraic connectivity of a connected graph in terms of the domination number and characterize the associated extremal graphs.     

Disproof of a conjecture in graph reconstruction theory

In his thesis [3] B. D. Thatte conjectured that ifG=G ₁,G ₂,...G _n is a sequence of finitely many simple connected graphs (isomorphic graphs may occur in the sequence) with the same number of vertices and edges then their shuffled edge deck uniquely determines the graph sequence (up to a permutation). In this paper we prove that there are such sequences of graphs with the same shuffled edge deck.This research was partially supported by Hungarian National Foundation of Scientific Research Grant no. 1812     

Sharp bounds on the distance spectral radius and the distance energy of graphs

The D-eigenvalues {μ₁,μ₂,…,…,μ_p} of a graph G are the eigenvalues of its distance matrix D and form the D-spectrum of G denoted by spec_D(G). The greatest D-eigenvalue is called the D-spectral radius of G denoted by μ₁. The D-energy E_D(G) of the graph G is the sum of the absolute values of its D-eigenvalues. In this paper we obtain some lower bounds for μ₁ and characterize those graphs for which these bounds are best possible. We also obtain an upperbound for E_D(G) and determine those maximal D-energy graphs.     

Minimum edge ranking spanning trees of split graphs

Given a graph G, the minimum edge ranking spanning tree problem (MERST) is to find a spanning tree of G whose edge ranking is minimum. However, this problem is known to be NP-hard for general graphs. In this paper, we show that the problem MERST has a polynomial time algorithm for split graphs, which have useful applications in practice. The result is also significant in the sense that this is a first non-trivial graph class for which the problem MERST is found to be polynomially solvable. We also show that the problem MERST for threshold graphs can be solved in linear time, where threshold graphs are known to be split.