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Main Authors: Ai, Jiangdong, Ji, Yizhe, Lian, Xiaopan, Yang, Kun
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.26251
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author Ai, Jiangdong
Ji, Yizhe
Lian, Xiaopan
Yang, Kun
author_facet Ai, Jiangdong
Ji, Yizhe
Lian, Xiaopan
Yang, Kun
contents Let $T$ be a finite tree with leaf set $\dO$ as the boundary and let $λ_2$ be the first nontrivial Steklov eigenvalue. Let $D$ and $\ell$ be the maximum vertex degree and the number of leaves, respectively. Motivated by the spectral influence of neck-stretching on Riemannian manifolds, we investigate a discrete counterpart--edge-stretching--and its effect on the Steklov eigenvalues of graphs. We prove that Steklov eigenvalues decrease monotonically under the edge--stretching operation. As a consequence, we prove that $λ_2\le D/\ell$, with equality if and only if $T$ is a star. This fundamentally improves the constant in He--Hua's bound $λ_2\le 4(D-1)/\ell$ to the optimal value~$1$. We also provide a closed-form diagonalization of the Steklov problem on level--regular trees, yielding explicit eigenvalues and multiplicities. In addition, we provide a general upper bound $λ_k\le \min\{1,\,16Dk/\ell\}$ for higher eigenvalues. Systematic numerical experiments verify the sharp bound and provide evidence for the extremal conjecture of Lin--Zhao on balanced minimum--height trees.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_26251
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Effect of edge-stretching on Steklov eigenvalues and sharp Steklov eigenvalue bounds on leaf--boundary trees
Ai, Jiangdong
Ji, Yizhe
Lian, Xiaopan
Yang, Kun
Combinatorics
Let $T$ be a finite tree with leaf set $\dO$ as the boundary and let $λ_2$ be the first nontrivial Steklov eigenvalue. Let $D$ and $\ell$ be the maximum vertex degree and the number of leaves, respectively. Motivated by the spectral influence of neck-stretching on Riemannian manifolds, we investigate a discrete counterpart--edge-stretching--and its effect on the Steklov eigenvalues of graphs. We prove that Steklov eigenvalues decrease monotonically under the edge--stretching operation. As a consequence, we prove that $λ_2\le D/\ell$, with equality if and only if $T$ is a star. This fundamentally improves the constant in He--Hua's bound $λ_2\le 4(D-1)/\ell$ to the optimal value~$1$. We also provide a closed-form diagonalization of the Steklov problem on level--regular trees, yielding explicit eigenvalues and multiplicities. In addition, we provide a general upper bound $λ_k\le \min\{1,\,16Dk/\ell\}$ for higher eigenvalues. Systematic numerical experiments verify the sharp bound and provide evidence for the extremal conjecture of Lin--Zhao on balanced minimum--height trees.
title Effect of edge-stretching on Steklov eigenvalues and sharp Steklov eigenvalue bounds on leaf--boundary trees
topic Combinatorics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.26251