The dual Cheeger constant and spectra of infinite graphs

Abstract

In this article we study the top of the spectrum of the normalized Laplace operator on infinite graphs. We introduce the dual Cheeger constant and show that it controls the top of the spectrum from above and below in a similar way as the Cheeger constant controls the bottom of the spectrum. Moreover, we show that the dual Cheeger constant at infinity can be used to characterize that the essential spectrum of the normalized Laplace operator shrinks to one point.