All eigenvalues of the power hypergraph and signed subgraphs of a graph (Q6178777)

A hypergraph \(H\) is called \(k\)-uniform if each edge of \(H\) contains exactly \(k\) vertices. The eigenvalues of \(H\) are the eigenvalues of its adjacency tensor. The \(k\)-power hypergraph \(G^{(k)}\) is the \(k\)-uniform hypergraph that is obtained by adding \(k-2\) new vertices to each edge of a graph \(G\), for \(k\geq 3\). In [\textit{K. Cardoso} et al., ibid. 590, 243--257 (2020; Zbl 1437.05169)] it was stated that all distinct eigenvalues of the generalized hypergraph \(H_s^{(k)}\) can be generated from eigenvalues of subgraphs of the \(r\)-uniform hypergraph \(H\). When this result is restricted to the case that \(H\) is a graph \(G\) (\(r=2\)), then the obtained statement is incorrect. In this paper, the result of \textit{J. Zhou} et al. [Electron. J. Comb. 21, No. 4, Research Paper P4.24, 14 p. (2014; Zbl 1302.05114)] is extended and the incorrect statement is corrected by using the spectra of signed subgraphs of \(G\). The main theorem reads as follows. Theorem. The complex number \(\lambda\) is an eigenvalue of \(G^{(k)}\) if and only if \begin{itemize} \item some signed induced subgraph of \(G\) has an eigenvalue \(\beta\) such that \(\beta^2=\lambda^k\), when \(k=3\); \item some signed subgraph of \(G\) has an eigenvalue \(\beta\) such that \(\beta^2=\lambda^k\), when \(k\geq 4\). \end{itemize} This shows that all eigenvalues of a power hypergraph \(G^{(k)}\) can be generated from the eigenvalues of signed subgraphs of the underlying graph \(G\).