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A divisible design graph is a graph whose adjacency matrix is an incidence matrix of a (group) divisible design. Divisible design graphs were introduced in 2011 as a generalization of $(v,k,\lambda)$-graphs. Here we describe four new infinite families that can be obtained from the symplectic strongly regular graph $Sp(2e,q)$ ($q$ odd, $e\geq 2$) by modifying the set of edges. To achieve this we need two kinds of spreads in $PG(2e-1,q)$ with respect to the associated symplectic form: the symplectic spread consisting of totally isotropic subspaces and, when $e=2$, a special spread consisting of lines which are not totally isotropic. Existence of symplectic spreads is known, but the construction of a special spread for every odd prime power $q$ is a major result of this paper. We have included relevant back ground from finite geometry, and when $q=3,5$ and $7$ we worked out all possible special spreads.

We provide three infinite families of graphs in the Johnson and Grassmann schemes that are not uniquely determined by their spectrum. We do so by constructing graphs that are cospectral but non-isomorphic to these graphs.

We complete the determination of the signed graphs for which the adjacency matrix has all but at most two eigenvalues equal to $\pm 1$. The unsigned graphs and the disconnected, the bipartite and the complete signed graphs with this property have already been determined in two earlier papers. Here we deal with the remaining cases.

We present the first steps towards the determination of the signed graphs for which the adjacency matrix has all but at most two eigenvalues equal to 1 or -1. Here we deal with the disconnected, the bipartite and the complete signed graphs. In addition, we present many examples which cannot be obtained from an unsigned graph or its negative by switching.

The toughness $t(G)$ of a graph $G=(V,E)$ is defined as $t(G)=\min\{\frac{|S|}{c(G-S)}\}$, in which the minimum is taken over all $S\subset V$ such that $G-S$ is disconnected, where $c(G-S)$ denotes the number of components of $G-S$. We present two tight lower bounds for $t(G)$ in terms of the Laplacian eigenvalues and provide strong support for a conjecture for a better bound which, if true, implies both bounds, and improves and generalizes known bounds by Alon, Brouwer, and the first author. As applications, several new results on perfect matchings, factors and walks from Laplacian eigenvalues are obtained, which leads to a conjecture about Hamiltonicity and Laplacian eigenvalues.

Hoffman's ratio bound is an upper bound for the independence number of a regular graph in terms of the eigenvalues of the adjacency matrix. The bound has proved to be very useful and has been applied many times. Hoffman did not publish his result, and for a great number of users the emergence of Hoffman's bound is a black hole. With this note I hope to clarify the history of this bound and some of its generalizations.

A Deza graph $G$ with parameters $(n,k,b,a)$ is a $k$-regular graph with $n$ vertices such that any two distinct vertices have $b$ or $a$ common neighbours. The children $G_A$ and $G_B$ of a Deza graph $G$ are defined on the vertex set of $G$ such that every two distinct vertices are adjacent in $G_A$ or $G_B$ if and only if they have $a$ or $b$ common neighbours, respectively. A strongly Deza graph is a Deza graph with strongly regular children. In this paper we give a spectral characterisation of strongly Deza graphs, show relationships between eigenvalues, and study strongly Deza graphs which are distance-regular.

A conference matrix of order $n$ is an $n\times n$ matrix $C$ with diagonal entries $0$ and off-diagonal entries $\pm 1$ satisfying $CC^\top=(n-1)I$. If $C$ is symmetric, then $C$ has a symmetric spectrum $\Sigma$ (that is, $\Sigma=-\Sigma$) and eigenvalues $\pm\sqrt{n-1}$. We show that many principal submatrices of $C$ also have symmetric spectrum, which leads to examples of Seidel matrices of graphs (or, equivalently, adjacency matrices of complete signed graphs) with a symmetric spectrum. In addition, we show that some Seidel matrices with symmetric spectrum can be characterized by this construction.

A universal adjacency matrix of a graph $G$ with adjacency matrix $A$ is any matrix of the form $U = \alpha A + \beta I + \gamma J + \delta D$ with $\alpha \neq 0$, where $I$ is the identity matrix, $J$ is the all-ones matrix and $D$ is the diagonal matrix with the vertex degrees. In the case that $G$ is the disjoint union of regular graphs, we present an expression for the characteristic polynomials of the various universal adjacency matrices in terms of the characteristic polynomials of the adjacency matrices of the components. As a consequence we obtain a formula for the characteristic polynomial of the Seidel matrix of $G$, and the signless Laplacian of the complement of $G$ (i.e. the join of regular graphs).

A signed graph is said to be sign-symmetric if it is switching isomorphic to its negation. Bipartite signed graphs are trivially sign-symmetric. We give new constructions of non-bipartite sign-symmetric signed graphs. Sign-symmetric signed graphs have a symmetric spectrum but not the other way around. We present constructions of signed graphs with symmetric spectra which are not sign-symmetric. This, in particular answers a problem posed by Belardo, Cioab\u{a}, Koolen, and Wang (2018).

Properties of graphs that can be characterized by the spectrum of the adjacency matrix of the graph have been studied systematically recently. Motivated by the complexity of these properties, we show that there are such properties for which testing whether a graph has that property can be NP-hard (or belong to other computational complexity classes consisting of even harder problems). In addition, we discuss a possible spectral characterization of some well-known NP-hard problems. In particular, for every integer $k\geq 6$ we construct a pair of $k$-regular cospectral graphs, where one graph is Hamiltonian and the other one not.

For vertex and edge connectivity we construct infinitely many pairs of regular graphs with the same spectrum, but with different connectivity.

A mixed extension of a graph $G$ is a graph $H$ obtained from $G$ by replacing each vertex of $G$ by a clique or a coclique, whilst two vertices in $H$ corresponding to distinct vertices $x$ and $y$ of $G$ are adjacent whenever $x$ and $y$ are adjacent in $G$. If $G$ is the path $P_3$, then $H$ has at most three adjacency eigenvalues unequal to $0$ and $-1$. Recently, the first author classified the graphs with the mentioned eigenvalue property. Using this classification we investigate mixed extension of $P_3$ on being determined by the adjacency spectrum. We present several cospectral families, and with the help of a computer we find all graphs on at most $25$ vertices that are cospectral with a mixed extension of $P_3$.

We determine (partly by computer search) the chromatic index (edge-chromatic number) of many strongly regular graphs (SRGs), including the SRGs of degree $k \leq 18$ and their complements, the Latin square graphs and their complements, and the triangular graphs and their complements. Moreover, using a recent result of Ferber and Jain it is shown that an SRG of even order $n$, which is not the block graph of a Steiner 2-design or its complement, has chromatic index $k$, when $n$ is big enough. Except for the Petersen graph, all investigated connected SRGs of even order have chromatic index equal to their degree, i.e., they are class 1, and we conjecture that this is the case for all connected SRGs of even order., Comment: 10 pages

A Deza graph with parameters $(n,k,b,a)$ is a $k$-regular graph with $n$ vertices in which any two vertices have $a$ or $b$ ($a\leq b$) common neighbours. A Deza graph is strictly Deza if it has diameter $2$, and is not strongly regular. In an earlier paper, the two last authors et el. characterized the strictly Deza graphs with $b=k-1$ and $\beta > 1$, where $\beta$ is the number of vertices with $b$ common neighbours with a given vertex. Here we deal with the case $\beta=1$, thus we complete the characterization of strictly Deza graphs with $b=k-1$. It follows that all Deza graphs with $b=k-1$ and $\beta=1$ can be made from special strongly regular graphs, and we present several examples of such strongly regular graphs. A divisible design graph is a special Deza graph, and a Deza graph with $\beta=1$ is a divisible design graph. The present characterization reveals an error in a paper on divisible design graphs by the second author et al. We discuss the cause and the consequences of this mistake and give the required errata.

We study the behaviour of the 2-rank of the adjacency matrix of a graph under Seidel and Godsil-McKay switching, and apply the result to graphs coming from graphical Hadamard matrices of order $4^m$. Starting with graphs from known Hadamard matrices of order $64$, we find (by computer) many Godsil-McKay switching sets that increase the 2-rank. Thus we find strongly regular graphs with parameters $(63,32,16,16)$, $(64,36,20,20)$, and $(64,28,12,12)$ for almost all feasible 2-ranks. In addition we work out the behaviour of the 2-rank for a graph product related to the Kronecker product for Hadamard matrices, which enables us to find many graphical Hadamard matrices of order $4^m$ for which the related strongly regular graphs have an unbounded number of different 2-ranks. The paper extends results from the article 'Switched symplectic graphs and their 2-ranks' by the first and the last author.

A mixed extension of a graph $G$ is a graph $H$ obtained from $G$ by replacing each vertex of $G$ by a clique or a coclique, where vertices of $H$ coming from different vertices of $G$ are adjacent if and only if the original vertices are adjacent in $G$. If $G$ has no more than three vertices, $H$ has all but at most three adjacency eigenvalues equal to $0$ or $-1$. In this paper we consider the converse problem, and determine the class $\cal G$ of all graphs with at most three eigenvalues unequal to $0$ and $-1$. Ignoring isolated vertices, we find that $\cal G$ consists of all mixed extensions of graphs on at most three vertices together with some particular mixed extensions of the paths $P_4$ and $P_5$.

A signed graph $\Gamma$ is said to be determined by its spectrum if every signed graph with the same spectrum as $\Gamma$ is switching isomorphic with $\Gamma$. Here it is proved that the path $P_n$, interpreted as a signed graph, is determined by its spectrum if and only if $n\equiv 0, 1$, or 2 (mod 4), unless $n\in\{8, 13, 14, 17, 29\}$, or $n=3$.

Let $n\geq k\geq 2$ be two integers and $S$ a subset of $\{0,1,\dots,k-1\}$. The graph $J_{S}(n,k)$ has as vertices the $k$-subsets of the $n$-set $[n]=\{1,\dots,n\}$ and two $k$-subsets $A$ and $B$ are adjacent if $|A\cap B|\in S$. In this paper, we use Godsil-McKay switching to prove that for $m\geq 0$, $k\geq \max(m+2,3)$ and $S = \{0, 1, ..., m\}$, the graphs $J_S(3k-2m-1,k)$ are not determined by spectrum and for $m\geq 2$, $n\geq 4m+2$ and $S = \{0,1,...,m\}$ the graphs $J_{S}(n,2m+1)$ are not determined by spectrum. We also report some computational searches for Godsil-McKay switching sets in the union of classes in the Johnson scheme for $k\leq 5$., Comment: 9 pages, no figures, 3 tables; 2nd version contains improved results compared to the 1st version

We determine all graphs for which the adjacency matrix has at most two eigenvalues (multiplicities included) not equal to $-2$, or $0$, and determine which of these graphs are determined by their adjacency spectrum.

The pineapple graph $K_p^q$ is obtained by appending $q$ pendant edges to a vertex of a complete graph $K_{p}$ ($q\geq 1,\ p\geq 3$). Zhang and Zhang ["Some graphs determined by their spectra", Linear Algebra and its Applications, 431 (2009) 1443-1454] claim that the pineapple graphs are determined by their adjacency spectrum. We show that their claim is false by constructing graphs which are cospectral and non-isomorphic with $K_p^q$ for every $p\geq 4$ and various values of $q$. In addition we prove that the claim is true if $q=2$, and refer to the literature for $q=1$, $p=3$, and $(p,q)=(4,3)$.

We apply Godsil-McKay switching to the symplectic graphs over $\mathbb{F}_2$ with at least 63 vertices and prove that the 2-rank of (the adjacency matrix of) the graph increases after switching. This shows that the switched graph is a new strongly regular graph with parameters $(2^{2\nu}\!-1, 2^{2\nu-1}, 2^{2\nu-2},2^{2\nu-2})$ and 2-rank $2\nu+2$ when $\nu\geq 3$. For the symplectic graph on $63$ vertices we investigate repeated switching by computer and find many new strongly regular graphs with the above parameters for $\nu=3$ with various 2-ranks. Using these results and a recursive construction method for the symplectic graph from Hadamard matrices, we obtain several graphs with the above parameters, but different 2-ranks for every $\nu\geq 3$.

For each $b \geq 5$ we construct a pair of cospectral $b$-regular graphs, where one has a perfect matching and the other one not. This solves a research problem posed by the third author at the 22nd British Combinatorial Conference.

The simplicial rook graph ${\rm SR}(m,n)$ is the graph of which the vertices are the sequences of nonnegative integers of length $m$ summing to $n$, where two such sequences are adjacent when they differ in precisely two places. We show that ${\rm SR}(m,n)$ has integral eigenvalues, and smallest eigenvalue $s = \max (-n, -{m \choose 2})$, and that this graph has a large part of its spectrum in common with the Johnson graph $J(m+n-1,n)$. We determine the automorphism group and several other properties.

Godsil-McKay switching is an operation on graphs that doesn't change the spectrum of the adjacency matrix. Usually (but not always) the obtained graph is non-isomorphic with the original graph. We present a straightforward sufficient condition for being isomorphic after switching, and give examples which show that this condition is not necessary. For some graph products we obtain sufficient conditions for being non-isomorphic after switching. As an example we find that the tensor product of the $\ell\times m$ grid ($\ell>m\geq 2$) and a graph with at least one vertex of degree two is not determined by its adjacency spectrum.

We determine all graphs whose adjacency matrix has at most two eigenvalues (multiplicities included) different from $\pm 1$ and decide which of these graphs are determined by their spectrum. This includes the so-called friendship graphs, which consist of a number of edge-disjoint triangles meeting in one vertex. It turns out that the friendship graph is determined by its spectrum, except when the number of triangles equals sixteen.

We apply eigenvalue interlacing techniques for obtaining lower and upper bounds for the sums of Laplacian eigenvalues of graphs, and characterize equality. This leads to generalizations of, and variations on theorems by Grone, and Grone and Merris. As a consequence we obtain inequalities involving bounds for some well-known parameters of a graph, such as edge-connectivity, and the isoperimetric number.

We investigate when a complete graph $K_n$ with some edges deleted is determined by its adjacency spectrum. It is shown to be the case if the deleted edges form a matching, a complete graph $K_m$ provided $m \leq n-2$, or a complete bipartite graph. If the edges of a path are deleted we prove that the graph is determined by its generalized spectrum (that is, the spectrum together with the spectrum of the complement). When at most five edges are deleted from $K_n$, there is just one pair of nonisomorphic cospectral graphs. We construct nonisomorphic cospectral graphs (with cospectral complements) for all $n$ if six or more edges are deleted from $K_n$, provided $n$ is big enough., Comment: Affiliation added, typos corrected

We study the energy per vertex in regular graphs. For every k, we give an upper bound for the energy per vertex of a k-regular graph, and show that a graph attains the upper bound if and only if it is the disjoint union of incidence graphs of projective planes of order k-1 or, in case k=2, the disjoint union of triangles and hexagons. For every k, we also construct k-regular subgraphs of incidence graphs of projective planes for which the energy per vertex is close to the upper bound. In this way, we show that this upper bound is asymptotically tight.

We show that any connected regular graph with $d+1$ distinct eigenvalues and odd-girth $2d+1$ is distance-regular, and in particular that it is a generalized odd graph.

This submission has been withdrawn by arXiv administration., Comment: This submission has been withdrawn by arXiv administration as it has been copied from A.E. Brouwer and W.H. Haemers; available online at http://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/preprints/ipm.tex.gz