The maximal exceptional graphs (Q1403926)

An exceptional graph is a connected graph with least eigenvalue greater than or equal to \(-2\) which is not a generalized line graph. Such graphs are known to be representable in the exceptional root system \(\mathbb{E}_8\). An exceptional graph is said to be maximal if it is no induced subgraph of another exceptional graph. We note that every exceptional graph is an induced subgraph of some maximal exceptional graph. In this paper all maximal exceptional graphs are determined by a computer search using the star complement technique, and then it is shown how they can be found by theoretical consideration using a representation of \(\mathbb{E}_8\) in \(\mathbb{R}^8\). There are exactly 473 maximal exceptional graphs.