Let $G$ be a graph with $m$ edges and $\lambda(G)$ be the spectral radius of $G$. Nikiforov [Combin. Proba. Comput., 2002] proved that if $\lambda(G)>\sqrt{(1-\frac{1}{r})2m}$ then $G$ contains a $K_{r+1}$. Bollobás and Nikiforov [J. Combin. Theory Ser. B, 2007] proved some spectral counting results for cliques, which is a spectral Moon-Moser Inequality. Very recently, the present authors proved a counting result of spectral Rademacher Theorem for triangles. It is natural to consider counting results for classes of degenerate graphs. A previous result due to Nikiforov [Linear Algebra Appl., 2009] asserted that every graph $G$ on $m\geq 10$ edges contains a 4-cycle if $\lambda(G)>\sqrt{m}$. Define $f(m)$ to be the minimum number of copies of 4-cycles in such a graph. A consequence of a recent theorem due to Zhai et al. [European J. Combin., 2021] shows that $f(m)=\Omega(m)$. In this article, by somewhat different techniques, we prove that $f(m)=\Theta(m^2)$. We mention some problems for further study.
@article{10_37236_12725,
author = {Bo Ning and Mingqing Zhai},
title = {Counting substructures and eigenvalues. {II:} {Quadrilaterals}},
journal = {The electronic journal of combinatorics},
year = {2025},
volume = {32},
number = {4},
doi = {10.37236/12725},
zbl = {8120087},
url = {http://geodesic.mathdoc.fr/articles/10.37236/12725/}
}
TY - JOUR
AU - Bo Ning
AU - Mingqing Zhai
TI - Counting substructures and eigenvalues. II: Quadrilaterals
JO - The electronic journal of combinatorics
PY - 2025
VL - 32
IS - 4
UR - http://geodesic.mathdoc.fr/articles/10.37236/12725/
DO - 10.37236/12725
ID - 10_37236_12725
ER -
%0 Journal Article
%A Bo Ning
%A Mingqing Zhai
%T Counting substructures and eigenvalues. II: Quadrilaterals
%J The electronic journal of combinatorics
%D 2025
%V 32
%N 4
%U http://geodesic.mathdoc.fr/articles/10.37236/12725/
%R 10.37236/12725
%F 10_37236_12725
Bo Ning; Mingqing Zhai. Counting substructures and eigenvalues. II: Quadrilaterals. The electronic journal of combinatorics, Tome 32 (2025) no. 4. doi: 10.37236/12725