A sharp fixed-size spectral bound for $kK_3$-free graphs
Abstract
For a fixed integer , we establish a sharp adjacency-spectral upper bound for sufficiently large -edge -free graphs. We prove Moreover, equality holds precisely when and, up to isolated vertices, is the join of with an independent set of vertices. The case was previously known; our argument establishes every fixed . The proof requires information beyond first-order spectral stability. We derive an exact nonnegative defect identity at a maximum Perron vertex, use it to bound the entire outer layer by a constant, and reduce the remaining graph to a bounded core with finitely many independent twin classes. A Perron-vector concentration identity and the Erd\H{o}s--Gallai matching theorem then force the unique extremal core. A nearly extremal family lies only below the target, showing why an exact second-order analysis is necessary.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2608.05869,
title = {A sharp fixed-size spectral bound for $kK_3$-free graphs},
author = {Joyentanuj Das and Yamini V},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2608.05869},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
32 pages, Comments are welcome