Kesten-McKay law for the Markoff surface mod p

Abstract

For each prime $p$, we study the eigenvalues of a 3-regular graph on roughly $p^2$ vertices constructed from the Markoff surface. We show they asymptotically follow the Kesten-McKay law, which also describes the eigenvalues of a random regular graph. The proof is based on the method of moments and takes advantage of a natural group action on the Markoff surface.