A Study of Hypergraph Using Null Spaces of the Incidence Matrix and its Transpose

Abstract

In this study, we explore the substructures of a hypergraph that lead us to linearly dependent rows (or columns) in the incidence matrix of the hypergraph. These substructures are closely related to the spectra of various hypergraph matrices, including the signless Laplacian, adjacency, Laplacian, and adjacency matrices of the hypergraph's incidence graph. Specific eigenvectors of these hypergraph matrices serve to characterize these substructures. We show that vectors belonging to the nullspace of the adjacency matrix of the hypergraph's incidence graph provide a distinctive description of these substructures. Additionally, we illustrate that these substructures exhibit inherent similarities and redundancies, which manifest in analogous behaviours during random walks and similar values of hypergraph centralities.