Graphs with Minimum Algebraic Connectivity II: Regular Graphs of Even Degree

Source abstract

Aldous and Fill (2002) conjectured the asymptotic maximum relaxation time of a random walk on a connected regular graph. Since the relaxation time of a $d$-regular graph $G$ is $d/μ(G)$, where $μ(G)$ denotes its algebraic connectivity, this conjecture is closely related to the problem of minimizing algebraic connectivity among regular graphs. Guiduli and Mohar (1996) conjectured that, for every fixed minimum degree $δ=d\ge3$ and all sufficiently large orders, graphs with minimum algebraic connectivity are path-like and, apart from bounded portions near their two ends, have a prescribed block structure. Abdi and Ghorbani (2024) proposed an analogous structural conjecture for $d$-regular graphs with minimum algebraic connectivity and fixed degree $d\ge3$. In Part~I, we proved the Aldous--Fill conjecture, the Guiduli--Mohar conjecture, and for odd degrees, the Abdi Ghorbani conjecture. In this paper, we settle the remaining even-degree case, thereby completing the structural characterization of regular graphs with minimum algebraic connectivity. We also prove that, for every fixed even $d\ge4$, the minimum algebraic connectivity at order $n$ is $2(d-2)π^2/n^2+O_d(n^{-3})$, and that every minimizing graph has diameter $3n/(d+1)+O_d(1)$. For every fixed even $d\ge6$, $d$-regular graphs whose algebraic connectivity is asymptotically minimum have asymptotically maximum diameter. Finally, we obtain a sharp normalized-gap bound for all even regular degrees, including degrees that grow with $n$.