arXiv subjects

Zhengbo Chen

Publications and source records attributed to Zhengbo Chen.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

The saturated spectral radius for complete graphs

A graph is $K_{r+1}$-saturated if it is $K_{r+1}$-free and adding any missing edge creates a copy of $K_{r+1}$. Kim, Kim, Kostochka, and O conjectured that $K_{r-1}\vee(n-r+1)K_1$ minimizes the spectral radius among all $n$-vertex $K_{r+1}$-saturated graphs. They proved the case $r=2$, and the cases $r=3$ and $r\in\{4,5\}$ were subsequently established by Kim, Kostochka, O, Shi, and Wang, and by Wang and Hou, respectively. We settle the conjecture for all $r\ge3$: if $n\ge r+1$ and $G$ is an $n$-vertex $K_{r+1}$-saturated graph, then \[ ρ(G)\ge \frac{r-2+\sqrt{(r-2)^2+4(r-1)(n-r+1)}}{2}, \] with equality if and only if $G\cong K_{r-1}\vee(n-r+1)K_1$. We also prove O's local two-walk conjecture for every $r\ge2$: \[ \sum_{w\in N_G(v)}d_G(w) \ge (r-2)d_G(v)+(r-1)(n-r+1) \qquad(v\in V(G)). \] If $G$ has no universal vertex, the inequality holds with the additional term $(r-1)(r-2)$ on the right-hand side. This constant is best possible uniformly in $n$ for every fixed $r$, and gives a strict improvement when $r\ge3$. A corresponding spectral bound follows.

math.CO↗

arXiv2026

On the structure of graphs with given odd girth and large algebraic connectivity

A classical result of Andrásfai, Erdős, and Sós states that every $n$-vertex graph with odd girth at least $2k+1$ and minimum degree larger than $\frac{2n}{2k+1}$ is bipartite. Rather than imposing a minimum-degree condition, in this paper we investigate conditions on algebraic connectivity that force graphs of given odd girth to have a simple structure. The algebraic connectivity of a graph $G$, denoted by $μ_2(G)$, is the second smallest eigenvalue of its Laplacian matrix. Our main results are as follows. 1. Every $n$-vertex triangle-free graph $G$ with $μ_2(G)\geq \frac{n}{3}$ is bipartite. Moreover, the constant $\frac{1}{3}$ is asymptotically best possible. 2. For $k\geq 3$, every $n$-vertex graph $G$ of odd girth at least $2k+1$ with $μ_2(G)>\frac{4n}{6k-1}$ is bipartite. 3. For $k\geq 22$, every $n$-vertex graph $G$ of odd girth at least $2k+1$ with $μ_2(G)>\frac{3456n}{k^3}$ is bipartite. Moreover, the term $k^{-3}$ is asymptotically best possible.

math.CO↗

arXiv2026

The Equality Cases For the Laplacian Conjecture of Brouwer

The Laplacian conjecture of Brouwer asserts that for any graph $G$ of order n with $m$ edges, the sum of the $k$ largest Laplacian eigenvalues satisfies $s_k(G) \le m + \binom{k+1}{2}$ for $k=1, \ldots, n$. Later, Li and Guo in 2022 further proposed the full Brouwer's Laplacian spectrum conjecture. Recently, Kothari and Tudose in 2026 proved the Brouwer's conjecture. Motivated by their perfect proof and methods, we proved that for a simple graph of order $n$ with $m$ edges and $1\le k\le n-1$, $s_k(G) = m + \binom{k+1}{2}$ if and only if $G$ is a threshold graph with clique number $k+1$, which confirms the full Brouwer conjecture proposed by Li and Guo.

math.CO↗

arXiv2026

The Sharp Upper Bounds for the Median Eigenvalues of Graphs

Let $λ_1\geqλ_2\geq\cdots\geqλ_n$ be the eigenvalues of a simple graph $G$ of order $n$. The HL-index of $G$ is defined by $R(G)=\max\|λ_h|,|λ_\ell|\}$ with $h=\lfloor(n+1)/2\rfloor$ and $\ell=\lceil(n+1)/2\rceil$.In this paper, we prove that if $G$ is $ K_4$-minor-free or $ K _ {2,3} $-minor-free, then $R(G)\leq\sqrt{5}-1$ with equality attained by an infinite family of outerplanar graphs.Moreover, we show that $R(G)\leq\sqrt{d-2}$ for triangle-free graphs with maximum degree at most $d$ and average degree at most $(d-2)(d^2-2d+2)/(d^2-3d+5)$.

math.CO↗

arXiv2026

The Equality Cases for the Grone-Merris-Bai Theorem

The Grone--Merris inequality, conjectured by Grone and Merris~(1994) and first proved by Bai~(2011), states that for every graph $G$ of order $n$ and every $1\le k\le n$, $\sum_{i=1}^kλ_i(G)\le\sum_{i=1}^k d_i^*(G)$, where $λ_1\ge\cdots\geλ_n$ are the Laplacian eigenvalues and $d_1^*\ge\cdots\ge d_n^*$ is the conjugate degree sequence. In this paper we determine exactly when equality holds. Using the split-graph trace inequality developed by Kothari and Tudose~(2026) in their proof of Brouwer's Laplacian conjecture---which relies on Bai's theorem and also establishes the equivalence between the two conjectures---together with the recent characterization of the Brouwer equality cases by Cai, Chen, Yang and Zhang~(2027), we prove that equality holds in the Grone--Merris inequality if and only if the graph $G$ belongs to one of two explicitly described families. Both families are obtained from a threshold graph by a surgical operation at one terminal block: in the first family, edges are removed from the initial dominating block; in the second, edges are added inside the initial isolated block. Our analysis yields a complete combinatorial description of all pairs $(G,k)$ for which the Grone--Merris bound is tight.

math.CO↗

arXiv2026

Positive and negative 3-energies of graphs

For a simple graph $G$ with $n$ vertices, let $A_G$ denote the adjacency matrix of $G$, and let $λ_1(G) \geq λ_2(G) \geq \dots \geq λ_n(G)$ be its eigenvalues. For an integer $p \geq 2$, the positive $p$-energy and negative $p$-energy of $G$, denoted $\mathcal{E}^+_p(G)$ and $\mathcal{E}^-_p(G)$, are defined as follows: $\mathcal{E}^+_p(G) = \sum_{λ_i(G) > 0} |λ_i(G)|^p$ and $\mathcal{E}^-_p(G) = \sum_{λ_i(G) < 0} |λ_i(G)|^p,$ respectively. Tang, Liu, and Wang proposed a conjecture that, for any integer $p \geq 2$, every connected $n$-vertex graph $G$ satisfies $\mathcal{E}^+_p(G) \geq \mathcal{E}^+_p(P_n)$. Akbari, Kumar, Mohar, and Pragada conjectured that, for any $p \geq 2$, every connected $n$-vertex graph $G$ satisfies $\mathcal{E}^-_p(G) \geq \mathcal{E}^-_p(K_n)$, and they proved this conjecture for $p \geq 4$. In this paper, we prove that every connected $n$-vertex graph, except for $K_1$, $K_2$, and $P_3$, satisfies $\mathcal{E}^+_3(G) \geq \frac{\sqrt{5}}{2}n$. Moreover, we show that for any integer $p \geq 3$, every connected $n$-vertex graph $G$ satisfies $\mathcal{E}^-_p(G) \geq \mathcal{E}^-_p(K_n)$, which improves upon the previously known result.

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