Dynamical systems associated with adjacency matrices

Abstract

We develop the theory of linear evolution equations associated with the adjacency matrix of a graph, focusing in particular on infinite graphs of two kinds: uniformly locally finite graphs as well as locally finite line graphs. We discuss in detail qualitative properties of solutions to these problems by quadratic form methods. We distinguish between backward and forward evolution equations: the latter have typical features of diffusive processes, but cannot be well-posed on graphs with unbounded degree. On the contrary, well-posedness of backward equations is a typical feature of line graphs. We suggest how to detect even cycles and/or couples of odd cycles on graphs by studying backward equations for the adjacency matrix on their line graph.