No Arabic abstract
A caterpillar graph $T(p_1, ldots, p_r)$ of order $n= r+sum_{i=1}^r p_i$, $rgeq 2$, is a tree such that removing all its pendent vertices gives rise to a path of order $r$. In this paper we establish a necessary and sufficient condition for a real number to be an eigenvalue of the Randic matrix of $T(p_1, ldots, p_r)$. This result is applied to determine the extremal caterpillars for the Randic energy of $T(p_1,ldots, p_r)$ for cases $r=2$ (the double star) and $r=3$. We characterize the extremal caterpillars for $r=2$. Moreover, we study the family of caterpillars $Tbig(p,n-p-q-3,qbig)$ of order $n$, where $q$ is a function of $p$, and we characterize the extremal caterpillars for three cases: $q=p$, $q=n-p-b-3$ and $q=b$, for $bin {1,ldots,n-6}$ fixed. Some illustrative examples are included.
For a connected graph $G:=(V,E)$, the Steiner distance $d_G(X)$ among a set of vertices $X$ is the minimum size among all the connected subgraphs of $G$ whose vertex set contains $X$. The $k-$Steiner distance matrix $D_k(G)$ of $G$ is a matrix whose rows and columns are indexed by $k-$subsets of $V$. For $k$-subsets $X_1$ and $X_2$, the $(X_1,X_2)-$entry of $D_k(G)$ is $d_G(X_1 cup X_2)$. In this paper, we show that the rank of $2-$Steiner distance matrix of a caterpillar graph on $N$ vertices and with $p$ pendant veritices is $2N-p-1$.
We study the symmetry properties of the spectra of normalized Laplacians on signed graphs. We find a new machinery that generates symmetric spectra for signed graphs, which includes bipartiteness of unsigned graphs as a special case. Moreover, we prove a fundamental connection between the symmetry of the spectrum and the existence of damped two-periodic solutions for the discrete-time heat equation on the graph.
Let G be an undirected graph on n vertices and let S(G) be the set of all real symmetric n x n matrices whose nonzero off-diagonal entries occur in exactly the positions corresponding to the edges of G. The inverse inertia problem for G asks which inertias can be attained by a matrix in S(G). We give a complete answer to this question for trees in terms of a new family of graph parameters, the maximal disconnection numbers of a graph. We also give a formula for the inertia set of a graph with a cut vertex in terms of inertia sets of proper subgraphs. Finally, we give an example of a graph that is not inertia-balanced, and investigate restrictions on the inertia set of any graph.
Given two graphs, a backbone and a finger, a comb product is a new graph obtained by grafting a copy of the finger into each vertex of the backbone. We study the comb graphs in the case when both components are the paths of order $n$ and $k$, respectively, as well as the above comb graphs with an infinite ray attached to some of their vertices. A detailed spectral analysis is carried out in both situations.
Two method for computation of the spectra of certain infinite graphs are suggested. The first one can be viewed as a reversed Gram--Schmidt orthogonalization procedure. It relies heavily on the spectral theory of Jacobi matrices. The second method is related to the Schur complement for block matrices. A number of examples including infinite graphs with tails, chains of cycles and ladders are worked out in detail.