Nikiforov's spectral consecutive cycle problem and the connected-matching method

Let $\rho(G)$ denote the adjacency spectral radius of a graph $G$ of order $n$. We determine the sharp constant in an open problem of Nikiforov (2008) on cycles of consecutive lengths. For every $\varepsilon>0$ and all sufficiently large $n$, if $G$ is an $n$-vertex graph with $\rho(G)>\sqrt{\lfloor{n^2/4}\rfloor},$ then $G$ contains a cycle $C_\ell$ for every integer length $3\le \ell\le (\frac{3-\sqrt5}{2}-\varepsilon)n.$ The constant $(3-\sqrt5)/2$ is best possible, as shown by the split graph $K_k\vee\overline K_{n-k}$ with $k\sim(3-\sqrt5)n/4$. Our result improves all previous results [LAA2008, CPC2020, JGT2023, JGT2023, GC2024]. The proof combines the degree form of Szemer\'edi's regularity lemma, a spectral matching theorem of Feng-Yu-Zhang, Weyl's inequality, a refinement of \L{}uczak's connected-matching embedding method, and other ideas.