Lollipop graphs are extremal for commute times

Consider a simple random walk on a connected graph G=(V, E). Let C(u, v) be the expected time taken for the walk starting at vertex u to reach vertex v and then go back to u again, i.e., the commute time for u and v, and let C(G)=max_{u, v∈V}C(u, v). Further, let 𝒢(n, m) be the family of connected graphs on n vertices with m edges, , and let 𝒢(n)=∪_m𝒢(n, m) be the family of all connected n‐vertex graphs. It is proved that if G∈(n, m) is such that C(G)=max_{H∈𝒢(n, m)}C(H) then G is either a lollipop graph or a so‐called double‐handled lollipop graph. It is further shown, using this result, that if C(G)=max_H∈𝒢(n)C(H) then G is the full lollipop graph or a full double‐handled lollipop graph with (2n−1)/3] vertices in the clique unless n≤9 in which case G is the n‐path. ©2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Random Struct. Alg., 16, 131–142, 2000