English

Convex combination of first and second eigenvalues of trees

Combinatorics 2026-01-16 v1

Abstract

For a graph GG, let λ1(G)\lambda_1(G) and λ2(G)\lambda_2(G) denote the largest and the second largest adjacency eigenvalue of GG. The sum λ1(G)+λ2(G)\lambda_1(G) + \lambda_2(G) is called the \emph{spectral sum} of GG. We investigate the spectral sum of trees of order nn and determine the extremal trees that achieve maximum/minimum. Moreover, for any α[0,1]\alpha \in [0,1], we determine the extremal trees which maximize the convex combination αλ1+(1α)λ2\alpha \lambda_1 + (1-\alpha)\lambda_2 in the class of nn-vertex trees.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2601.10036,
  title  = {Convex combination of first and second eigenvalues of trees},
  author = {Hitesh Kumar and Bojan Mohar and Shivaramakrishna Pragada and Hanmeng Zhan},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.10036},
  year   = {2026}
}