The least eigenvalue of graphs whose complements are unicyclic

Abstract

A graph in a certain graph class is called minimizing if the least eigenvalue of the adjacency matrix of the graph attains the minimum among all graphs in that class. Bell {\it et al.} have characterized the minimizing graphs in the class of connected graphs of order $n$ and size $m$, whose complements are either disconnected or contain a clique of order at least $n/2$. In this paper we discuss the minimizing graphs of a special class of graphs of order $n$ whose complements are connected and contains exactly one cycle (namely the the class $\mathscr {U}^{c}_{n}$ of graphs whose complements are unicyclic), and characterize the unique minimizing graph in $\mathscr {U}^{c}_{n}$ when $n \geq 20$.