Moments of the inverse participation ratio for the Laplacian on finite regular graphs

Abstract

We investigate the first and second moments of the inverse participation ratio (IPR) for all eigenvectors of the Laplacian on finite random regular graphs with $n$ vertices and degree $z$. By exactly diagonalizing a large set of $z$-regular graphs, we find that as $n$ becomes large, the mean of the inverse participation ratio on each graph, when averaged over a large ensemble of graphs, approaches the numerical value $3$. This universal number is understood as the large-$n$ limit of the average of the quartic polynomial corresponding to the IPR over an appropriate $(n-2)$-dimensional hypersphere of $\mathbb{R}^n$. For a large, but not exhaustive ensemble of graphs, the mean variance of the inverse participation ratio for all graph Laplacian eigenvectors deviates from its continuous hypersphere average due to large graph-to-graph fluctuations that arise from the existence of highly localized modes.