Maximizing the spectral radius of graphs of given size with forbidden a subgraph

Abstract

Let $H_7$ denote the $7$-vertex \textit{fan graph} consisting of a $6$-vertex path plus a vertex adjacent to each vertex of the path. Let $K_3\vee \frac{m-3}{3}{K}_1$ be the graph obtained by joining each vertex of a triangle $K_3$ to $\frac{m-3}{3}$ isolated vertices. In this paper, we show that if $G$ is an $H_7$-free graph with size $m\ge 33$, then the spectral radius $\rho (G)\le 1+\sqrt{m-2},$ equality holds if and only if $G\cong K_3\vee \frac{m-3}{3}{K}_1$ (possibly, with some isolated vertices).

10 pages