English

The index of $t\mathcal{{C}}_{3}^{-}$-free signed graphs

Combinatorics 2025-12-09 v1

Abstract

The classical spectral Tur\'{a}n problem is to determine the maximum spectral radius of an FF-free graph of order nn. This paper extends this framework to signed graphs. Let Cr\mathcal{C}_r^- be the set of all unbalanced signed graphs with underlying graphs CrC_r. Wang, Hou and Li [Linear Algebra Appl, 681 (2024) 47-65] previously determined the spectral Tur\'{a}n number of C3\mathcal{C}_{3}^{-}. In the present work, we characterize the extremal graphs that achieve the maximum index among all unbalanced signed graphs of order nn that are tC3t\mathcal{C}{3}^{-}-free for t2t\geq 2. Furthermore, for t3t\geq 3, we identify the graphs with the second maximum index among all tC3t\mathcal{C}{3}^{-}-free unbalanced signed graphs of fixed order nn.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2512.07579,
  title  = {The index of $t\mathcal{{C}}_{3}^{-}$-free signed graphs},
  author = {Dan Li and Mingsong Qin},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2512.07579},
  year   = {2025}
}