On the spectrum and linear programming bound for hypergraphs

Abstract: The spectrum of a graph is closely related to many graph parameters. In particular, the spectral gap of a regular graph which is the difference between its valency and second eigenvalue, is widely seen an algebraic measure of connectivity and plays a key role in the theory of expander graphs. In this paper, we extend previous work done for graphs and bipartite graphs and present a linear programming method for obtaining an upper bound on the order of a regular uniform hypergraph with prescribed distinct eigenvalues. Furthermore, we obtain a general upper bound on the order of a regular uniform hypergraph whose second eigenvalue is bounded by a given value. Our results improve and extend previous work done by Feng-Li (1996) on Alon-Boppana theorems for regular hypergraphs and by Dinitz-Schapira-Shahaf (2020) on the Moore or degree-diameter problem. We also determine the largest order of an $r$-regular $u$-uniform hypergraph with second eigenvalue at most $\theta$ for several parameters $(r,u,\theta)$. In particular, orthogonal arrays give the structure of the largest hypergraphs with second eigenvalue at most $1$ for every sufficiently large $r$. Moreover, we show that a generalized Moore geometry has the largest spectral gap among all hypergraphs of that order and degree.