English

The average connectivity matrix of a graph

Combinatorics 2024-10-21 v1

Abstract

For a graph GG and for two distinct vertices uu and vv, let κ(u,v)\kappa(u,v) be the maximum number of vertex-disjoint paths joining uu and vv in GG. The average connectivity matrix of an nn-vertex connected graph GG, written Aκˉ(G)A_{\bar{\kappa}}(G), is an n×nn\times n matrix whose (u,v)(u,v)-entry is κ(u,v)/(n2)\kappa(u,v)/{n \choose 2} and let ρ(Aκˉ(G))\rho(A_{\bar{\kappa}}(G)) be the spectral radius of Aκˉ(G)A_{\bar{\kappa}}(G). In this paper, we investigate some spectral properties of the matrix. In particular, we prove that for any nn-vertex connected graph GG, we have ρ(Aκˉ(G))4α(G)n\rho(A_{\bar{\kappa}}(G)) \le \frac{4\alpha'(G)}n, which implies a result of Kim and O \cite{KO} stating that for any connected graph GG, we have κˉ(G)2α(G)\bar{\kappa}(G) \le 2 \alpha'(G), where κˉ(G)=u,vV(G)κ(u,v)(n2)\bar{\kappa}(G)=\sum_{u,v \in V(G)}\frac{\kappa(u,v)}{{n\choose 2}} and α(G)\alpha'(G) is the maximum size of a matching in GG; equality holds only when GG is a complete graph with an odd number of vertices. Also, for bipartite graphs, we improve the bound, namely ρ(Aκˉ(G))(nα(G))(4α(G)2)n(n1)\rho(A_{\bar{\kappa}}(G)) \le \frac{(n-\alpha'(G))(4\alpha'(G) - 2)}{n(n-1)}, and equality in the bound holds only when GG is a complete balanced bipartite graph.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2212.13724,
  title  = {The average connectivity matrix of a graph},
  author = {Linh Nguyen and Suil O},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2212.13724},
  year   = {2024}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-28T07:54:36.789Z