English

Positive and negative 3-energies of graphs

Combinatorics 2026-04-20 v1

Abstract

For a simple graph GG with nn vertices, let AGA_G denote the adjacency matrix of GG, and let λ1(G)λ2(G)λn(G)\lambda_1(G) \geq \lambda_2(G) \geq \dots \geq \lambda_n(G) be its eigenvalues. For an integer p2p \geq 2, the positive pp-energy and negative pp-energy of GG, denoted Ep+(G)\mathcal{E}^+_p(G) and Ep(G)\mathcal{E}^-_p(G), are defined as follows: Ep+(G)=λi(G)>0λi(G)p\mathcal{E}^+_p(G) = \sum_{\lambda_i(G) > 0} |\lambda_i(G)|^p and Ep(G)=λi(G)<0λi(G)p,\mathcal{E}^-_p(G) = \sum_{\lambda_i(G) < 0} |\lambda_i(G)|^p, respectively. Tang, Liu, and Wang proposed a conjecture that, for any integer p2p \geq 2, every connected nn-vertex graph GG satisfies Ep+(G)Ep+(Pn)\mathcal{E}^+_p(G) \geq \mathcal{E}^+_p(P_n). Akbari, Kumar, Mohar, and Pragada conjectured that, for any p2p \geq 2, every connected nn-vertex graph GG satisfies Ep(G)Ep(Kn)\mathcal{E}^-_p(G) \geq \mathcal{E}^-_p(K_n), and they proved this conjecture for p4p \geq 4. In this paper, we prove that every connected nn-vertex graph, except for K1K_1, K2K_2, and P3P_3, satisfies E3+(G)52n\mathcal{E}^+_3(G) \geq \frac{\sqrt{5}}{2}n. Moreover, we show that for any integer p3p \geq 3, every connected nn-vertex graph GG satisfies Ep(G)Ep(Kn)\mathcal{E}^-_p(G) \geq \mathcal{E}^-_p(K_n), which improves upon the previously known result.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2604.15656,
  title  = {Positive and negative 3-energies of graphs},
  author = {Zhengbo Chen and Zhouningxin Wang and Xiao-Dong Zhang},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.15656},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

33 pages, 12 figures