Combined voltage assignments, factored lifts, and their spectra

Abstract: We consider lifting eigenvalues and eigenvectors of graphs to their {\em factored lifts}, derived by means of a {\em combined voltage assignment} in a group. The latter extends the concept of (ordinary) voltage assignments known from regular coverings and corresponds to the cases of generalized covers of Poto\v{c}nik and Toledo (2021) in which a group of automorphisms of a lift acts freely on its arc set. With the help of group representations and certain matrices over complex group rings associated with the graphs to be lifted, we develop a method for the determination of the complete spectra of the factored lift graphs and derive a sufficient condition for lifting eigenvectors.