Spanning tree packing, edge-connectivity and eigenvalues of graphs with given girth

Abstract

Let $\tau(G)$ and $\kappa'(G)$ denote the edge-connectivity and the spanning tree packing number of a graph $G$, respectively. Proving a conjecture initiated by Cioaba and Wong, Liu et al. in 2014 showed that for any simple graph $G$ with minimum degree $\delta \ge 2k \ge 4$, if the second largest adjacency eigenvalue of $G$ satisfies $\lambda_2(G) < \delta - \frac{2k-1}{\delta+1}$, then $\tau(G) \ge k$. Similar results involving the Laplacian eigenvalues and the signless Laplacian eigenvalues of $G$ are also obtained. In this paper, we find a function $f(\delta, k, g)$ such that for every graph $G$ with minimum degree $\delta \ge 2k \ge 4$ and girth $g \ge 3$, if its second largest adjacency eigenvalue satisfies $\lambda_2(G) < f(\delta, k, g)$, then $\tau(G) \ge k$. As $f(\delta, k, 3) = \delta - \frac{2k-1}{\delta+1}$, this extends the above-mentioned result of Liu et al. Related results involving the girth of the graph, Laplacian eigenvalues and the signless Laplacian eigenvalues to describe $\tau(G)$ and $\kappa'(G)$ are also obtained.