On a Construction of Integrally Invertible Graphs and their Spectral Properties

Abstract

Godsil (1985) defined a graph to be invertible if it has a non-singular adjacency matrix whose inverse is diagonally similar to a nonnegative integral matrix; the graph defined by the last matrix is then the inverse of the original graph. In this paper we call such graphs positively invertible and introduce a new concept of a negatively invertible graph by replacing the adjective `nonnegative' by `nonpositive in Godsil's definition; the graph defined by the negative of the resulting matrix is then the negative inverse of the original graph. We propose new constructions of integrally invertible graphs (those with non-singular adjacency matrix whose inverse is integral) based on an operation of `bridging' a pair of integrally invertible graphs over subsets of their vertices, with sufficient conditions for their positive and negative invertibility. We also analyze spectral properties of graphs arising from bridging and derive lower bounds for their least positive eigenvalue. As an illustration we present a census of graphs with a unique 1-factor on $m\le 6$ vertices and determine their positive and negative invertibility.