Eigenvalues and spanning trees with constrained degree

Abstract

In this paper, we study some spanning trees with bounded degree and leaf degree from eigenvalues. For any integer $k\ge 2$, a $k$-tree is a spanning tree in which every vertex has degree no more than $k$. Let $T$ be a spanning tree of a connected graph. The leaf degree of $T$ is the maximum number of end-vertices attached to $v$ in $T$ for any $v\in V(T)$. By referring to the technique shown in [Eigenvalues and $[a,b]$-factors in regular graphs, J. Graph Theory. 100 (2022) 458-469], for an $r$-regular graph $G$, we provide an upper bound for the fourth largest adjacency eigenvalue of $G$ to guarantee the existence of a $k$-tree. Moreover, for a $t$-connected graph, we prove a tight sufficient condition for the existence of a spanning tree with leaf degree at most $k$ in terms of spectral radius. This generalizes a result of Theorem 1.5 in [Spectral radius and spanning trees of graphs, Discrete Math. 346 (2023) 113400]. Finally, for a general graph $G$, we present two sufficient conditions for the existence of a spanning tree with leaf degree at most $k$ via the Laplacian eigenvalues of $G$ and the spectral radius of the complement of $G$, respectively.