Leaves in Representation Diagrams of Bipartite Distance-Regular Graphs

Let denote a bipartite distance-regular graph with diameter D 3 and valency k 3. Let ₀ > ₁ ··· > _D denote the eigenvalues of and let q ^h _ij (0 h, i, j D) denote the Krein parameters of . Pick an integer h (1 h D – 1). The representation diagram = _h is an undirected graph with vertices 0,1,...,D. For 0 i, j D, vertices i, j are adjacent in whenever i j and q ^h _ij 0. It turns out that in , the vertex 0 is adjacent to h and no other vertices. Similarly, the vertex D is adjacent to D – h and no other vertices. We call 0, D the trivial vertices of . Let l denote a vertex of . It turns out that l is adjacent to at least one vertex of . We say l is a leaf whenever l is adjacent to exactly one vertex of . We show has a nontrivial leaf if and only if is the disjoint union of two paths.