A note on the $A_{\alpha}$-spectral radius of graphs

TL;DR

This paper confirms a conjecture about the increasing behavior of the $A_{\alpha}$-spectral radius when modifying certain graph structures and characterizes extremal graphs with maximum $A_{\alpha}$-spectral radius under specific constraints.

Contribution

It proves a conjecture on the $A_{\alpha}$-spectral radius increase when adjusting paths in graphs and characterizes extremal graphs with maximum spectral radius for fixed order and structural properties.

Findings

Confirmed the conjecture on $A_{\alpha}$-spectral radius increase.

Characterized extremal graphs with maximum $A_{\alpha}$-spectral radius.

Generalized known results in spectral graph theory.

Abstract

Let $G$ be a graph with adjacency matrix $A(G)$ and let $D(G)$ be the diagonal matrix of the degrees of $G$. For any real $\alpha\in [0,1]$, Nikiforov [Merging the $A$- and $Q$-spectral theories, Appl. Anal. Discrete Math. 11 (2017) 81--107] defined the matrix $A_{\alpha}(G)$ as $A_{\alpha}(G)=\alpha D(G)+(1-\alpha)A(G).$ Let $u$ and $v$ be two vertices of a connected graph $G$. Suppose that $u$ and $v$ are connected by a path $w_0(=v)w_1\cdots w_{s-1}w_s(=u)$ where $d(w_i)=2$ for $1\leq i\leq s-1$. Let $G_{p,s,q}(u,v)$ be the graph obtained by attaching the paths $P_p$ to $u$ and $P_q$ to $v$. Let $s=0,1$. Nikiforov and Rojo [On the $\alpha$-index of graphs with pendent paths, Linear Algebra Appl. 550 (2018) 87--104] conjectured that $\rho_{\alpha}(G_{p,s,q}(u,v))<\rho_{\alpha}(G_{p-1,s,q+1}(u,v))$ if $p\geq q+2.$ In this paper, we confirm the conjecture. As applications, firstly, the extremal graph with maximal $A_{\alpha}$-spectral radius with fixed order and cut vertices is characterized. Secondly, we characterize the extremal tree which attains the maximal $A_{\alpha}$-spectral radius with fixed order and matching number. These results generalize some known results.