Diffusions on Graphs, Poisson Problems and Spectral Geometry

Abstract

We study diffusions, variational principles and associated boundary value problems on directed graphs with natural weightings. Using random walks and exit times, we associate to certain subgraphs (domains) a pair of sequences, each of which is invariant under the action of the automorphism group of the underlying graph. We prove that these invariants differ by an explicit combinatorial factor given by Stirling numbers of the first and second kind. We prove that for any domain with a natural weighting, these invariants determine the eigenvalues of the Laplace operator corresponding to eigenvectors with nonzero mean. As a specific example, we investigate the relationship between our invariants and heat content asymptotics, expressing both as special values of a Dirichlet series.