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i=2
(A
i
I) =
m
i=2
(
1
i
) J
holds where J is the nn all-one matrix and I is the unit matrix. We
study expressions of the form
t
i=1
(A
t
I) in a more general context
allowing us not only to derive Homans identity in a new way, but also
to compute, say, the rank of
m
i=2
(A
i
I) and of
i
=
1
(A
i
I)
for arbitrary simple graphs and to derive corresponding identities for
the recently introduced classes of harmonic and semiharmonic graphs.
MSC Classication: 05C50, 15A18, 15A24
Keywords: Homans identity, regular graphs, harmonic graphs, se-
miharmonic graphs
The authors would like to thank the DFG for support. The second author would also
like to thank the MNT for further support.
wN(v)
d
k
(w)
as well as
W
k
=
vV
d
k
(v)
for every k N
0
. In view of the well-known fact that, with j denoting the
all-one vector, the vector (d
k
(v))
vV
coincides with A
k
j, we have also
(1) W
k
= j
T
A
k
j,
for every k N
0
.
For each R, let
U
:= u R
V
[Au = u
denote the space of eigenvectors of A with eigenvalue , and let
1
=
G
1
>
2
=
G
2
> >
m
=
G
m
denote the distinct eigenvalues of A, i.e. the real numbers R with U
,=
0. Recall that
[
m
[
1
,= 0 always holds (the latter in view of E ,= ),
=
1
must hold for every R for which U
contains a positive
vector, i.e. a vector (x
v
)
vV
with x
v
> 0 for all v V
m
=
1
holds,
2
G is connected if and only if U
1
contains a positive eigenvector that
generates U
1
.
Recall also that G is bipartite if and only if dimU
= dimU
holds for
all R in which case
m+1i
=
i
must also hold for all i = 1, 2, . . . , m.
In particular, the following statements are well known to be equivalent (see
[2]):
G is connected and bipartite,
G is connected and
m
=
1
holds,
U
1
is generated by a positive eigenvector and
m
=
1
holds.
A graph G is called regular if there exists a constant r such that d(v) = r
holds for every v V in which case G is also called r-regular. Obviously, G
is r-regular if and only if Aj = rj holds in which case
1
= r must also hold.
The harmonic graphs form a slightly larger class of graphs: A graph G has
been called harmonic if there exists a constant such that
wN(v)
d(w) =
d(v) holds for every v V in which case G is also called harmonic. Clear-
ly,
wN(v)
d(w) = rd(v) holds for every r-regular graph, so any such graph
is r-harmonic. Moreover, the assertion that G is -harmonic is obviously
equivalent with the assertion that A
2
j = Aj holds.
Finally, a graph G has been called semiharmonic if there exists a con-
stant such that
wN(v)
d
2
(w) = d(v) holds for every v V in which
case the graph G is also called -semiharmonic. Clearly, the assertion that
G is -semiharmonic is equivalent with the assertion that A
3
j = Aj holds.
So, the class of semiharmonic graphs forms an even larger class of graphs.
In particular, every a, b-semiregular graph is ab-semiharmonic as A
2
j = abj
always holds for such graphs.
Since harmonic and semiharmonic graphs were dened in [4], the who-
le little industry has evolved studying specic instances of such graphs, in
particular those with a small number of cycles (cf. [1, 3, 5, 6, 7]).
In [8], A. Homan showed that G is a connected regular graph if and only
if
(2) #V
m
i=2
(A
i
I) =
m
i=2
(
1
i
) J
3
holds where I is the unit and J the all-one matrix. In addition, he generalized
this result in [9] to digraphs by showing that (2) holds if and only if G is a
strongly connected digraph with all in- and outdegrees equal.
In this note, we derive various, apparently new versions of Homans
identity, considering rst arbitrary expressions of the form
m
t=1
(B
i
I)
for arbitrary matrices B (Section 2) while returning to adjacency matrices of
graphs in the third and last section, deriving in particular straight-forward
generalizations of Homans identity to harmonic and semiharmonic graphs.
2 On Matrices of the Form
m
t=1
(B
i
I)
Let us recall rst that, given any subspace U of R
n
and any orthonormal
basis u
1
, . . . , u
r
of U, the n n-matrix P
U
corresponding to the orthogonal
projection
p
U
: R
n
U R
n
of R
n
onto U always coincides with the matrix
r
=1
u
u
T
.
In particular, we have
r
=1
x
x
T
=
r
=1
y
y
T
=1
(B
I)u =
t
=1
(
)u.
In particular, if B is diagonalizable over K, if
U
:= u K
n
Bu = u ( K)
4
denotes the eigenspace of all eigenvectors of B in K
n
with eigenvalue K,
and if spec(B) denotes the set
spec(B) := K
dimU
> 0
of its distinct eigenvalues, the rank of the matrix
t
=1
(B
I) always
coincides with the sum of the dimensions of the eigenspaces U
, summed
over all eigenvalues not in
1
, . . . ,
t
:
rk
_
t
=1
(B
I)
_
=
spec(B)\{
1
,...,t}
dimU
.
Thus, if K is the real number eld R, if B is symmetric, if
R
n
=
spec(B)
U
of B, and if u
1
, . . . , u
r
is an
orthonormal basis of U
=1
(B
I) =
spec(B)
t
=1
(
)P
U
=
spec(B)
t
=1
(
)
r
=1
u
u
T
spec(B)\{
1
,...,
t
}
t
=1
(
)
r
=1
u
u
T
=1
(B
I)
_
=
spec(B)\{
1
,...,
t
}
dimU
.
We view these formulas as the most general version of Hofmanns identity
(except that it generalizes, of course, in an appropriate form even further to
complex hermitian matrices, i.e. complex matrices B with B = B
T
).
5
Specializing to the case
1
, . . . ,
t
:= spec(B)
for some xed R and t := #(spec(B) ) so every eigenvalue
of B except perhaps (in case is an eigenvalue) occurs exactly once in
1
, . . . ,
t
, we see that all summands vanish in the above expression for
Hofmanns matrix H(B, ) dened by
H(B, ) :=
spec(B)\{}
(B
I)
except the summand referring to . So, for any orthonormal basis u
1
, . . . , u
r
of U
spec(B)\{}
(
)P
U
spec(B)\{}
(
)
r
=1
u
u
T
1
of R
V
onto U
1
coincides with the matrix
m
i=2
(
1
i
)
1
H(A,
1
),
6
and we have
H(A,
1
) =
m
i=2
(
1
i
)u
1
u
T
1
for one or equivalently for every eigenvector u
1
U
1
of length 1 if
and only if U
1
is generated by any such eigenvector u
1
or, equivalently, if
and only if there exists exactly one connected component of G with largest
eigenvalue
1
.
It follows in particular that G is a connected regular graph if and only
if Homans original identity (2) holds because this now implies that the
positive vector j generates U
1
.
Further, our observations together with the facts quoted above imply
that the rank rk(H(A,
1
)) of H(A,
1
) counts the number of bipartite
connected components of G with largest eigenvalue
1
and that, if u
m
is an
eigenvector of A of length 1 with eigenvalue
m
=
1
, we have
H(A,
m
) =
m1
i=1
(
m
i
)u
m
u
T
m
= (1)
m1
m
i=2
(
1
+
i
)u
m
u
T
m
if and only if U
1
is generated by u
m
, i.e. if and only if there exists exactly
one bipartite component of G with largest eigenvalue
1
.
So, this holds in particular if G is bipartite and connected in which case
H(A
2
,
2
1
) =
spec(A
2
)\{
2
1
}
(A
2
I)
=
spec(A
2
)\{
2
1
}
(
2
1
)(u
1
u
T
1
+u
m
u
T
m
)
=
m/2
i=2
(
2
1
2
i
)(u
1
u
T
1
+u
m
u
T
m
)
must also hold for any eigenvector u
1
U
1
of length 1 and any eigenvector
u
m
U
1
of length 1.
Next, recall that a graph G is a -harmonic graph for some R if and
only if Aj U
1
and
Aj[Aj) = (Aj)
T
Aj = j
T
A
T
Aj = j
T
A
2
j =
1
j
T
Aj =
1
W
1
= 2
1
#E
7
must also hold, and every connected component of G must be -harmonic,
too. In particular, the rank rk(H(A,
1
)) of H(A,
1
) now counts the number
of connected components of G and the rank rk(H(A,
1
)) of H(A,
1
)
counts the number of bipartite connected components of G.
From the assumption that G has no isolated vertices, we see that the
vector Aj is positive, and thus we conclude that a graph G is a connected
1
-harmonic graph if and only if Aj generates U
1
. This implies
Theorem 1 Let G be a graph without isolated vertices. Then G is connected
and harmonic if and only if
(3) 2
1
#E H(A,
1
) =
m
i=2
(
1
i
)(Aj)(Aj)
T
holds.
Remark 1 Equation (3) generalizes (2) since, for r-regular graphs, we have
r =
1
, 2#E =
1
#V , and (Aj)(Aj)
T
= r
2
j j
T
= r
2
J.
Finally, recall that G is -semiharmonic if and only if A
3
j = Aj holds,
i.e. if and only if Aj is an eigenvector of A
2
with eigenvalue . Clearly, this
implies =
2
1
(even if G would contain isolated vertices as long as at least
1
> 0 or, equivalently, E
G
,= holds) and therefore
Lemma 1 Given any nite simple graph G with E
G
,= and any real number
R, the following three assertions all are equivalent:
(1) G is -semiharmonic,
(2) =
2
1
and A
2
j +
1
Aj U
1
holds,
(3) =
2
1
and A
2
j
1
Aj U
1
holds.
Now, assuming again that G has no isolated vertices, we see that the vec-
tor A
2
j +
1
Aj is positive, and thus we conclude that a graph G is connected
and
2
1
-semiharmonic if and only if A
2
j +
1
Aj generates U
1
.
Similarly, G is
2
1
-semiharmonic and has at most one bipartite connected
component if and only if A
2
j
1
Aj generates U
1
, and that it has exactly
8
one bipartite connected component if and only A
2
j
1
Aj generates U
1
and is distinct from 0.
Thus, noting that
A
2
j
1
Aj[A
2
j
1
Aj) = (A
2
j
1
Aj)
T
(A
2
j
1
Aj)
= j
T
A
4
j 2
1
j
T
A
3
j +
2
1
j
T
A
2
j
= W
4
2
1
W
3
+
2
1
W
2
=
2
1
W
2
2
3
1
W
1
+
2
1
W
2
= 2
2
1
(W
2
1
W
1
)
holds for any
2
1
-semiharmonic graph G, we come to the following characte-
rization of semiharmonic connected graphs:
Theorem 2 Let G be a graph without isolated vertices and put
j
:= A
2
j
1
Aj.
Then the following assertions are equivalent:
(1) G is connected and semiharmonic,
(2) the identity
2
2
1
(W
2
+
1
W
1
) H(A,
1
) =
m
i=2
(
1
i
) j
+
j
T
+
holds,
(3) G is connected and the identity
2
2
1
(W
2
1
W
1
) H(A,
1
) =
i
=
1
(
1
i
) j
j
T
= (1)
m1
i
=
1
(
1
+
i
) j
j
T
holds,
(4) G is connected and the identity
4
4
1
(W
2
2
2
1
W
2
1
) H(A
2
,
2
1
) =
m/2
i=2
(
2
1
2
i
)
_
2
2
1
(W
2
1
W
1
)j
+
j
T
+
+ 2
2
1
(W
2
+
1
W
1
)j
j
T
holds.
9
Literatur
[1] B. Borovicanin, S. Gr unewald, I. Gutman, M. Petrovic, Harmonic graphs
with small number of cycles, to appear in Discrete Mathematics.
[2] D. Cvetkovic, P. Rowlinson, S. Simic, Eigenspaces of graphs, Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge, 1997.
[3] A. Dress, S. Gr unewald, Semiharmonic trees and monocyclic graphs, to
appear in Appl. Math. Letters.
[4] A. Dress, I. Gutman, On the number of walks in graphs, to appear in
Appl. Math. Letters.
[5] A. Dress, I. Gutman, Asymptotic results regarding the number of walks
in a graph, to appear in Appl. Math. Letters.
[6] S. Gr unewald, Harmonic trees, to appear in Appl. Math. Letters.
[7] S. Gr unewald, D. Stevanovic, Semiharmonic bicyclic graphs, submitted.
[8] A.J. Homan, On the polynomial of a graph, Amer. Math. Monthly 70
(1963), 3036.
[9] A.J. Homan, The polynomial of a directed graph, Proc. Amer. Math.
Soc. 16 (1965), 303309.
10