Spectral gap of the largest eigenvalue of the normalized graph Laplacian (Q2674036)

Let \(\lambda_n(G)\) denote the largest normalized Laplacian eigenvalue of a graph \(G\) of order \(n\). It has been known that \(\lambda_n(G) \ge \frac{n}{n-1}\) where equality is attained if and only if \(G\) is a complete graph; and that when \(G\) is not a complete graph, then \(\lambda_n(G) \ge \frac{n+1}{n-1}\) with the extremal graphs well-characterized. A new method is found in this study for proving these results. Using the same method, a new lower bound to the largest eigenvalue in terms of the minimum vertex degree is also found, provided this is at most \(\frac{n-1}{2}\).