On the Displacement of Eigenvalues when Removing a Twin Vertex

Twin vertices of a graph have the same open neighbourhood. If they are not adjacent, then they are called duplicates and contribute the eigenvalue zero to the adjacency matrix. Otherwise they are termed co-duplicates, when they contribute $-1$ as an eigenvalue of the adjacency matrix. On removing a twin vertex from a graph, the spectrum of the adjacency matrix does not only lose the eigenvalue $0$ or $-1$. The perturbation sends a rippling effect to the spectrum. The simple eigenvalues are displaced. We obtain a closed formula for the characteristic polynomial of a graph with twin vertices in terms of two polynomials associated with the perturbed graph. These are used to obtain estimates of the displacements in the spectrum caused by the perturbation

Strong Cospectrality and Twin Vertices in Weighted Graphs

We explore algebraic and spectral properties of weighted graphs containing twin vertices that are useful in quantum state transfer. We extend the notion of adjacency strong cospectrality to arbitrary Hermitian matrices, with focus on the generalized adjacency matrix and the generalized normalized adjacency matrix. We then determine necessary and sufficient conditions such that a pair of twin vertices in a weighted graph exhibits strong cospectrality with respect to the above-mentioned matrices. We also generalize known results about equitable and almost equitable partitions, and use these to determine which joins of the form $X\vee H$, where $X$ is either the complete or empty graph, exhibit strong cospectrality.Comment: 25 pages, 6 figure

On the Displacement of Eigenvalues When Removing a Twin Vertex

Twin vertices of a graph have the same open neighbourhood. If they are not adjacent, then they are called duplicates and contribute the eigenvalue zero to the adjacency matrix. Otherwise they are termed co-duplicates, when they contribute −1 as an eigenvalue of the adjacency matrix. On removing a twin vertex from a graph, the spectrum of the adjacency matrix does not only lose the eigenvalue 0 or −1. The perturbation sends a rippling effect to the spectrum. The simple eigenvalues are displaced. We obtain a closed formula for the characteristic polynomial of a graph with twin vertices in terms of two polynomials associated with the perturbed graph. These are used to obtain estimates of the displacements in the spectrum caused by the perturbation