Edge-connectivity matrices and their spectra

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Publication:2668063



Abstract: The edge-connectivity matrix of a weighted graph is the matrix whose off-diagonal v-w entry is the weight of a minimum edge cut separating vertices v and w. Its computation is a classical topic of combinatorial optimization since at least the seminal work of Gomory and Hu. In this article, we investigate spectral properties of these matrices. In particular, we provide tight bounds on the smallest eigenvalue and the energy. Moreover, we study the eigenvector structure and show in which cases eigenvectors can be easily obtained from matrix entries. These results in turn rely on a new characterization of those nonnegative matrices that can actually occur as edge-connectivity matrices.


For any undirected graph \(G = (V,E)\) with non-negative edge weights, the edge-connectivity matrix \(C(G)\) of \(G\) is the \(V\times V\) matrix with diagonal entries equal to zero and off-diagonal entries \([C(G)]_{vw}\) equal to the minimum weight of any edge set whose deletion disconnects vertices \(v\) and \(w\). \textit{R. E. Gomory} and \textit{T. C. Hu} [J. Soc. Ind. Appl. Math. 9, 551--570 (1961; Zbl 0112.12405)] presented a simple and elegant result that precisely characterised when a non-negative symmetric matrix \(A\) is the edge-connectivity matrix \(C(G)\) of some graph \(G\), and they further proved that if \(A = C(G)\) for some graph \(G\), then \(A\) is indeed the edge-connectivity graph of a spanning tree \(T\) of \(G\): \(A = C(G) = C(T)\). The authors of the present paper study the spectrum of these matrices and prove tight lower and upper bounds on the smallest size of the eigenvalues \(\lambda_i\) of \(C(G)\) and of its energy \(\mathcal{E} = \sum |\lambda_i|\). In particular, they prove that \(-M\leq\lambda_i\), where \(M\) is the greatest edge weight, and that \(\mathcal{E}\leq 2(|V|-1)M\). This proves the edge analogue of an open conjecture regarding the energy of vertex-connectivity matrices of graphs, posed in [\textit{M. M. Shikare} et al., MATCH Commun. Math. Comput. Chem. 79, No. 2, 387--398 (2018; Zbl 1472.92340)]. Other interesting and important results are presented, including a generalisation of Gomory and Hu's characterisation [loc. cit.].











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