Advances on two spectral conjectures regarding booksize of graphs

TL;DR

This paper advances spectral graph theory by establishing new bounds on the spectral radius related to the booksize of graphs, proving conjectures, and improving existing bounds for bipartite and non-bipartite graphs.

Contribution

It proves two key spectral bounds for graphs with forbidden books, confirming conjectures and significantly improving previous bounds on booksize related to spectral radius.

Findings

Spectral radius bounds for B_{r+1}-free graphs with many edges.

Confirmation of Liu and Miao's conjecture on spectral radius.

Improved lower bounds on booksize for Nosal graphs.

Abstract

The booksize $ \mathrm{bk}(G) $ of a graph $ G $, introduced by Erd\H{o}s, refers to the maximum integer $ r $ for which $G$ contains the book $ B_r $ as a subgraph. This paper investigates two open problems in spectral graph theory related to the booksize of graphs. First, we prove that for any positive integer $r$ and any $ B_{r+1} $-free graph $ G $ with $ m \geq (9r)^2 $ edges, the spectral radius satisfies $ \rho(G) \leq \sqrt{m} $. Equality holds if and only if $ G $ is a complete bipartite graph. This result improves the lower bound on the booksize of Nosal graphs (i.e., graphs with $ \rho(G) > \sqrt{m} $) from the previously established $ \mathrm{bk}(G) > \frac{1}{144}\sqrt{m} $ to $ \mathrm{bk}(G) > \frac{1}{9}\sqrt{m} $, presenting a significant advancement in the booksize conjecture proposed Li, Liu, and Zhang. Second, we show that for any positive integer $r$ and any non-bipartite $ B_{r+1} $-free graph $ G $ with $ m \geq (240r)^2 $ edges, the spectral radius $\rho$ satisfies $\rho^2<m-1+\frac{2}{\rho-1}$, unless $G$ is isomorphic to $S^+_{m,s}$ for some $s\in\{1,\ldots,r\}$. This resolves Liu and Miao's conjecture and further reveals an interesting phenomenon: even with a weaker spectral condition, $\rho^2\geq m-1+\frac2{\rho-1}$, we can still derive the supersaturation of the booksize for non-bipartite graphs.