The Laplacian eigenvalues of graphs: a survey

Xiao-Dong Zhang

Published 2011-11-12Version 1

The Laplacian matrix of a simple graph is the difference of the diagonal matrix of vertex degree and the (0,1) adjacency matrix. In the past decades, the Laplacian spectrum has received much more and more attention, since it has been applied to several fields, such as randomized algorithms, combinatorial optimization problems and machine learning. This paper is primarily a survey of various aspects of the eigenvalues of the Laplacian matrix of a graph for the past teens. In addition, some new unpublished results and questions are concluded. Emphasis is given on classifications of the upper and lower bounds for the Laplacian eigenvalues of graphs (including some special graphs, such as trees, bipartite graphs, triangular-free graphs, cubic graphs, etc.) as a function of other graph invariants, such as degree sequence, the average 2-degree, diameter, the maximal independence number, the maximal matching number, vertex connectivity, the domination number, the number of the spanning trees, etc.