Sharp Bounds for Guiduli-Type Hereditary Spectral Problems

Guiduli asked in 1996 the following problem concerning the maximum spectral radius of a graph under hereditary density constraints. If an $n$-vertex graph $G$ satisfies $e(H)\le c|V(H)|^2$ for every subgraph $H$ of $G$, must one have $\lambda(G)\le 2cn$? More generally, what remains true when the exponent $2$ is replaced by a constant less than $2$? We study the natural power-law version of this question for all $1<p\le2$. For $1<p\le 2$, define \[ d_p(G)=\max_{\varnothing\ne S\subseteq V(G)}\frac{e(G[S])}{|S|^p}. \] We determine the sharp asymptotic upper bound for $\lambda(G)$ in terms of $d_p(G)$ and $n$. More precisely, every $n$-vertex graph $G$ with at least one edge satisfies \[ \lambda(G)\le \begin{cases} \left(\left(\max_{t\in\mathbb N_{\ge1}}\dfrac{t}{(t+1)^p}\right)^{-1}+o(1)\right)d_p(G)\sqrt n,&1<p<3/2,\\[0.4em] \left(\dfrac{3\sqrt3}{4}+o(1)\right)d_p(G)\sqrt{n\log n},&p=3/2,\\[0.4em] (\mathfrak C_p+o(1))d_p(G)n^{p-1},&3/2<p<2, \end{cases} \] and each constant here is best possible. Here $\mathfrak C_p$ is characterized by an exact variational problem over finite kernels. We apply a sparse graphon operator estimate to convert hereditary $p$-density bounds into sharp spectral bounds, and this estimate also explains the transition at the critical exponent $p=3/2$. For the endpoint $p=2$, Wilf's theorem gives the exact finite-$n$ bound $\lambda(G)\le 2d_2(G)n$, with equality for $K_n$. Thus Guiduli's power-law problem is resolved in its sharp asymptotic form for every $1<p\leq2$, including exact leading constants.