Joining Forces for Reconstruction Inverse Problems

Abstract

A spectral inverse problem concerns the reconstruction of parameters of a parent graph from prescribed spectral data of subgraphs. Also referred to as the P–NP Isomorphism Problem, Reconstruction or Exact Graph Matching, the aim is to seek sets of parameters to determine a graph uniquely. Other related inverse problems, including the Polynomial Reconstruction Problem (PRP), involve the recovery of graph invariants. The PRP seeks to extract the spectrum of a graph from the deck of cards each showing the spectrum of a vertex-deleted subgraph. We show how various algebraic methods join forces to reconstruct a graph or its invariants from a minimal set of restricted eigenvalue-eigenvector information of the parent graph or its subgraphs. We show how functions of the entries of eigenvectors of the adjacency matrix A of a graph can be retrieved from the spectrum of eigenvalues of A. We establish that there are two subclasses of disconnected graphs with each card of the deck showing a common eigenvalue. These could occur as possible counter examples to the positive solution of the PRP.

Keywords

• eigenvalue–eigenvector-inverse problems
• Ulam’s reconstruction conjecture
• polynomial reconstruction problem
• adjacency matrix
• characteristic polynomial