The average connectivity matrix of a graph

Abstract

For a graph $G$ and for two distinct vertices $u$ and $v$, let $\kappa(u,v)$ be the maximum number of vertex-disjoint paths joining $u$ and $v$ in $G$. The average connectivity matrix of an $n$-vertex connected graph $G$, written $A_{\bar{\kappa}}(G)$, is an $n\times n$ matrix whose $(u,v)$-entry is $\kappa(u,v)/{n \choose 2}$ and let $\rho(A_{\bar{\kappa}}(G))$ be the spectral radius of $A_{\bar{\kappa}}(G)$. In this paper, we investigate some spectral properties of the matrix. In particular, we prove that for any $n$-vertex connected graph $G$, we have $\rho(A_{\bar{\kappa}}(G)) \le \frac{4\alpha'(G)}n$, which implies a result of Kim and O \cite{KO} stating that for any connected graph $G$, we have $\bar{\kappa}(G) \le 2 \alpha'(G)$, where $\bar{\kappa}(G)=\sum_{u,v \in V(G)}\frac{\kappa(u,v)}{{n\choose 2}}$ and $\alpha'(G)$ is the maximum size of a matching in $G$; equality holds only when $G$ is a complete graph with an odd number of vertices. Also, for bipartite graphs, we improve the bound, namely $\rho(A_{\bar{\kappa}}(G)) \le \frac{(n-\alpha'(G))(4\alpha'(G) - 2)}{n(n-1)}$, and equality in the bound holds only when $G$ is a complete balanced bipartite graph.