Median eigenvalues of bipartite graphs (Q2346767)

The HL-index of an \(n\)-vertex graph \(G\) with eigenvalues \(\lambda_1\geq\lambda_2\geq\dots\geq\lambda_n\) is \[ R(G) = \max\left\{\left|\lambda_{\left\lfloor\frac{n+1}2\right\rfloor}\right|, \left|\lambda_{\left\lceil \frac{n+1}2\right\rceil}\right|\right\} \] (cf.\ [\textit{G. Jaklič} et al., Ars Math. Contemp. 5, No. 1, 99--105 (2012; Zbl 1244.05144)]). The main result of this paper is: Let \(G\) be a connected bipartite graph with maximum degree \(\Delta\geq3.\) Then \(R(G)\leq\sqrt{\Delta-2}\) unless \(G\) is the incidence graph of a projective plane of order \(\Delta-1\), in which case \(R(G)=\sqrt{\Delta-1}\). From the authors' abstract: ``We also present an approach through graph covering to construct infinite graphs with large \(HL\)-index.'' They report that one of their theorems was obtained previously in [\textit{J. H. Kwak} and \textit{J. Lee}, Linear Multilinear Algebra 32, No. 1, 61--73 (1992; Zbl 0755.05078)] and generalized in [\textit{R. Feng} et al., Bull. Aust. Math. Soc. 69, No. 1, 133--136 (2004; Zbl 1043.05075)].