Remarks on the Spectral Approach to Finding Short Paths

Abstract: We are interested in the general question: to what extent are the spectral properties of a graph connected to the distance function? Our motivation is a concrete example of this question that is due to Steinerberger. We provide some negative results via constructions of families of graphs where the spectral properties disagree with the distance function in a manner that answers many of the questions posed by Steinerberger. We also provide a positive result by replacing Steinerberger's set-up with conditions involving graph curvature.