On distance matrices and Laplacians (Q1779393)

The distance matrix \(D\) of a graph \(G\) of order \(n\) is the \(n\times n\) matrix with zeroes on the diagonal where the entries represent distances between pairs of vertices of \(G\). The authors extend a previous result for unweighted trees of \textit{R. L. Graham} and \textit{L. Lovász} [Adv. Math. 29, 60--88 (1978; Zbl 0382.05023)] and provide a formula for the determinant and the inverse matrix of the distance matrix of weighted trees and unweighted unicyclic graphs. At the end of the paper, the obtained results are used to compute determinants of \(L_1\)-distance matrices of certain special sets of points in the plane. The authors also consider Laplacians of graphs. The {Laplacian} of a graph \(H\) is the matrix whose entries on the diagonal are equal to the sum of the weights of the edges incident with corresponding vertices and the remaining entries are equal to the negative square roots of the weights of the edges. The authors obtain the following surprising result: if \(D\) is the distance matrix of a weighted tree and \(L\) is the Laplacian matrix of an arbitrary weighted graph, then \((D^{-1}-L)^{-1}\) is an entry-wise positive matrix.