WHICH GRAPHS HAVE INTEGRAL SPECTRA?

Frank Harary*
University of Michigan
and Oxford University
Allen J. Schwenk*
University of Michigan
and Oxford University
ABSTRACT
The spectrum
sequence of the

S(G)
p

of a graph

G of order

is defined as thenon-inareasing

real eigenvalues of the adjacency matrix of

It has been

found that certain graphs have an integral spectrum, i.e., every eigenvalue is an integer.

Thus, it is natural to ask just which graphs have this property.

We develop

a systematic approach to this question based on operations on graphs. The general

problem appears intractable.

*Research supported in part by grant 73-2502 from the Air Force Office of
Scientific Research.

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WHICH GRAPHS HAVE INTEGRAL SPECTRA?

INTRODUCTION

1.

Some graphs have a spectrum consisting entirely of integers.

Our purpose is

to ask which graphs have this integral spectrum property and to exhibit several
families of such integral graphs.

To illustrate, we begin by showing in Figure 1

all integral cycles, together with their spectra.

Our notation and terminology

follow the book [2].

(2, 1, 1, -1, -1, -2)

(2, 0, 0, -2)

(2, -1, -1)

The Three Integral Cycles

Figure 1.
That these are the only cycles

with integral spectrum follows at once from

Cn

equation (11) of Collatz and Sinogowitz [1] which gives

2 cos 2n/n

as one of the

eigenvalues.
2.

OPERATIONS

This is a haphazard way of identifying integral graphs. A more systematic approach

results from the use of operations on graphs.

For given graphs G, G1 , G2 , recall that G

is the complement of G and that G1 x G2 , G1 1\ G2 , G1

tively the cartesian product, the conjunction,

G2 , G1 + G2

denote respec-

the strong product (which is the union

of the preceding two), and the join of G1 and G2 .

Schwenk [5] proved the following

results concerning these operations.

Theorem 1.
(1)

If G is regular of degree r, then the spectrum cf

S (G) = {p - 1 - r}

U {-

is

1 - S (G)} - {- 1 ..! r}

We note with amusement that the minus sign is used in four different ways in
(1), but we trust that the meaning will be clear by context.
Corollary 1.

If a regular graph G is integral, then so is

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Example 1.

Obviously

every complete graph

(2)

S (~)

consists entirely of zeros.

Corollary 1,

is integral and it is easily verified that

S(Kp) = (p- 1 , - 1 , - 1 , . , - 1)

Example 2.

The triangular prism, Figure 2, must be integral by Corollary 1

since its complement is the cycle

c6

(Figure 1).

(3, 1, 0,
Figure 2.
Theorem 2.

Corollary 2.

o,

-2, -2)

The Triangular Prism

The spectrum of the cartesian product is given by

which is the sum of each number in

If

Example 3.

G1

and

G2

S(G1 )

with every number in

are integral, then so is

G1 x G2

Km x

is integral.

the triangular prism (Figure 2) is integral since it is

Example 4.

S(G 2 )

Since the complete graphs are integral by Example 1, it follows

from Corollary 2, that every cartesian product

K2 .

By

The cube

Qn

K3 x K2

is the iterated cartesian product of

Hence, it must be integral by

spectrum contains the eigenvalues

In particular,

copies of

Corollary 2 and it is easy to see that its

n, n-2 , n-4 , .. where

n-Zk

has multiplicity

(~; .
Theorem 3.

The spectrum of the conjunction is given by

the product of each number in

Corollary 3.

If

Example 5.

G1

and G2

S (Gl) with every number in

are integral, then so is

Every conjunction

~~Kn

tered one member of this family since

and

Km

A~ = ~

S (G 2 ) .

G1 A G2

is integral.

We have already encoun-

Because

m -"' Kn

, we see that Examples 3 and 5 are equivalent.

is regular

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Theorem 4. The spectrum S (G 1 *G 2 ) of the strong product G1 *G 2 = G1 x G2 l) G1 1\ G2

is the sequence of values
Corollary 4.

If

G1

A~

and G2

+A +

G1

If

G2

and

AS(G 1 )

are integral, so is

It is well known [1] that if

Theorem 5.

with

and

G1 *

~cS(G 2 )

c2

is regular of degree

are regular of degrees

, then

is in S(G)

and r 2 , then the spectrum

r1

of their join is

(5)

Corollary 5.
both

G1

G1 + G2

The join

G2

and

of two regular graphs is integral if and only if

(r 1 - r 2 ) 2

are integral and

A complete bipartite graph

Example 6.

+ 4p 1 p 2

m,n

is a perfect square.

is integral if and only if

mn

is square.
Example 7.

The join

square, by Corollary 5.
K3

+ K2

~ + ~

(n-1) 2

is integral if and only if

This always holds for

n = 2

and m

( k2) .

+ 4 mn

is

In particular

(Figure 3) is integral as already noted in [1].

An Integral Join

Figure 3.
Theorem 6.

(Hoffman [3])

of the line graph of

(6)

If

is regular of degree

S(L(G)) = { (r - 2)

If

2, then the spectrum

is given by

where the number of occurrences of

Corollary 6.

S(G)}
-2

U (-2

is

, -2 , ... , -2)

q - p = p(r - 2)/2 .

is integral, so is its line graph.

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Example 8.

Every line graph

is integral since it is

L(K 4 )

L(Kp)

is integral.

In particular, the octahedron

Furthermore the Pertersen graph

integral by applying both Corollary 1 and Corollary 6 since

3.

tree

T1

is seen to be

L(K5 ) .

INTEGRAL TREES

There are several families of integral trees.

of diameter 3.

One of these consists of trees

The smallest two members of this family are now displayed.

of Figure 4,

S(T 1 )

family are not easily found.

(2 , 1 , 0 , 0 , -1 , -2)

The next such tree is

(2, 1, 0, 0, -1, -2)

Figure 4.

T2

For the

Other members of this

in the figure.

(3, 2, 10 (0)' -2, -3)

Two Integral Trees of Diameter 3

Another family of integral trees is provi.ded by the subdivision graphs of

certain stars

Kl,n

Theorem 2 of [5] can be used to calculate the character-

istic polynomial of the subdivision graph of

Example 9.

The subdivision graph of star

Kl,n

and it is

Kl,n

is integral if and only if

n + 1 , the number of points of the star, is a square.

Thus the smallest member of this family is the tree of Figure 5, which by the
way is also the smallest tree whose square is not hamiltonian.

(2, 1, 1,

Figure 5.

Another Integral Tree

o,

-1, -1, -2)

so

4.

OTHER INTEGRAL GRAPHS

Finally, there are two other integral graphs [1] which we have not been able
to identify as a member of a family.
G1

has spectrum

S(G 1 )

(3 , 1 , 1

These are shown in Figure 6.

0 ' -1

the line graph of the subdivision graph of

(3, 1, 1,

o,

-1, -2, -2)

Figure 6.

K4 , as shown in [2, p. 80]

o,

0, -1, -1, -2, -2, -2)

Two More Integral Graphs

UNSOLVED PROBLEMS

Which graphs have zero as an eigenvalue?

is well known that

-2)

-2

(3, 2, 2, 2,

5.
1.

The first graph

S(T)

For a tree

if and only if

T , it

has no !-factor.

Otherwise, the question is open.

2.

Which graphs have distinct eigenvalues?

The only known result

is that the group of such a graph must be boolean, as shown by

Mowshowitz [4] .
3.

Which nonsymmetric strong digraphs

any?

It is well known that

S(D)

of its strong components.

4.

Which multigraphs are integral?

D are integral?

Are there

is the union of the spectra

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REFERENCES

1.

Collatz, L., and Sinogowitz, U., Spektren endlicher Graphen, Abh. Math. Sem.
Univ. Hamburg, 21 (1957) 64-77.

2.

Harary, F., Graph Theory, Addison-Wesley, Reading, 1969.

3.

Hoffman, A. J., Some Recent Results on Spectral Properties of Graphs ,

Beitrage zur Graphentheorie (H. Sachs et al., eds.) Teubner, Leipzig
(1968), 75-80.

4.

Mowshowitz, A., The Group of a Graph Whose Adjacency Matrix Has All Distinct
Eigenvalues, Proof Techniques in Graph Theory, (F. Harary, ed.), Academic
Press, New Yo~l969), 109-111.

5.

Schwenk, A. J., Computing the Characteristic Polynomial of a Graph, this volume

p. 153.