English

On the minimum constant resistance curvature conjecture of graphs

Combinatorics 2026-03-27 v1

Abstract

Let GG be a connected graph with nn vertices. The resistance distance ΩG(i,j)\Omega_{G}(i,j) between any two vertices ii and jj of GG is defined as the effective resistance between them in the electrical network constructed from GG by replacing each edge with a unit resistor. The resistance matrix of GG, denoted by RGR_G, is an n×nn \times n matrix whose (i,j)(i,j)-entry is equal to ΩG(i,j)\Omega_{G}(i,j). The resistance curvature κi\kappa_i in the vertex ii is defined as the ii-th component of the vector (RG)11(R_G)^{-1}\mathbf{1}, where 1\mathbf{1} denotes the all-one vector. If all the curvatures in the vertices of GG are equal, then we say that GG has constant resistance curvature. Recently, Devriendt, Ottolini and Steinerberger \cite{kde} conjectured that the cycle CnC_n is extremal in the sense that its curvature is minimum among graphs with constant resistance curvature. In this paper, we confirm the conjecture. As a byproduct, we also solve an open problem proposed by Xu, Liu, Yang and Das \cite{kxu} in 2016. Our proof mainly relies on the characterization of maximum value of the sum of resistance distances from a given vertex to all the other vertices in 2-connected graphs.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2504.20448,
  title  = {On the minimum constant resistance curvature conjecture of graphs},
  author = {Wensheng Sun and Yujun Yang and Shou-Jun Xu},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2504.20448},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

11 pages, 2 figures