Extremal eigenvalues of graphs embedded on surfaces

TL;DR

This paper establishes tight bounds for the spectral radius of graphs embedded on surfaces with a given Euler genus, characterizes extremal graphs, and confirms a long-standing conjecture for planar graphs.

Contribution

It provides improved bounds on spectral radius for surface-embedded graphs and characterizes extremal graphs, advancing spectral graph theory on topological surfaces.

Findings

Tight bounds for spectral radius depending on surface genus

Characterization of extremal graphs as joins of specific graphs

Confirmation of a conjecture for planar extremal graphs

Abstract

Graph theory on surfaces extends classical graph structures to topological surfaces, providing a theoretical foundation for characterizing the embedding properties of complex networks in constrained spaces. The study of bounding the spectral radius $\rho(G)$ of graphs on surfaces has a rich history that dates back to the 1990s. In this paper, we establish tight bounds for graphs of order $n$ that are embeddable on a surface with Euler genus $\gamma$. Specifically, if graph $G$ achieves the maximum spectral radius, then \begin{equation*} \begin{array}{ll} \frac32\!+\!\sqrt{2n\!-\!\frac{15}4}\!+\!\frac{3\gamma\!-\!1}{n}<\rho(G)<\frac32\!+\!\sqrt{2n\!-\!\frac{15}4}\!+\!\frac{3\gamma\!-\!0.95}{n}, \end{array} \end{equation*} which improves upon the earlier bound $\rho(G)\leq2+\sqrt{2n+8\gamma-6}$ by Ellingham and Zha [JCTB, 2000]. Furthermore, we prove that any extremal graph is obtained from $K_2 \nabla P_{n-2}$ by adding exactly $3\gamma$ edges, where `$\nabla$' means the join product. As a corollary, for $\gamma = 0$ and $n \geq 4.5 \times 10^6$, the graph $K_2 \nabla P_{n-2}$ is the unique planar extremal graph, thereby confirming a long-standing conjecture resolved by Tait and Tobin [JCTB, 2017]. Let $K_r^n$ be the graph of order $n$ obtained by attaching two paths of nearly equal length to two distinct vertices of $K_r$. Integrating spectral techniques with considerable structural analysis on surface graphs, we further derive the following sharp bounds: $\rho(G) \leq \rho(K_2 \nabla K_4^{n-2})$ for projective-planar graphs, and $\rho(G) \leq \rho(K_2 \nabla K_5^{n-2})$ for toroidal graphs. Our study presents a novel framework for exploring the eigenvalue-extremal problem on surface graphs with high Euler genus.