English

A sharp fixed-size spectral bound for $kK_3$-free graphs

Combinatorics 2026-08-06 v1

Abstract

For a fixed integer k2k\ge2, we establish a sharp adjacency-spectral upper bound for sufficiently large mm-edge kK3kK_3-free graphs. We prove λ(G)(k1)+mk(k1). \lambda(G)\le (k-1)+\sqrt{m-k(k-1)}. Moreover, equality holds precisely when (2k1)m(2k-1)\mid m and, up to isolated vertices, GG is the join of K2k1K_{2k-1} with an independent set of m/(2k1)(k1)m/(2k-1)-(k-1) vertices. The case k=2k=2 was previously known; our argument establishes every fixed k3k\ge3. 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 Θ(m1/2)\Theta(m^{-1/2}) 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