Spectral extrema of 1-planar graphs with no short cycles or small cliques

Abstract: The spectral Turán type problem, initiated by Nikiforov in 2007, aims to determine the graphs among $n$-vertex $H$-free graphs having maximum spectral radius. In this paper, we study this problem for $1$-planar graphs, i.e., graphs that admit a drawing in the plane such that each edge is crossed at most once. Recently, Xu and Chang proved that the graphs among all $n$-vertex $K_5$-free $1$-planar graphs having maximum spectral radius lie within a small family of candidates. First, this paper explicitly identifies the unique spectral extremal graph among the $n$-vertex $K_5$-free $1$-planar graphs. Second, it establishes a structural reduction theorem: For any forbidden subgraph $F$ with $δ(F)\ge2$ that is contained in $K_2\vee P_{n-2}<sup>{2+}$ but not in $K_2\vee I_{n-2}$, every spectral extremal $F$-free $1$-planar graph contains a spanning complete bipartite graph $K_{2,n-2}$, where $P<sup>{2+}_{n-2}$ is obtained from a path $u_1u_2\dots u_{n-2}$ by adding edge $u_1u_{n-2}$ and all edges $u_iu_{i+2}$ for $1\le i\le n-4$, and $I_{n-2}$ denotes the empty graph on $n-2$ vertices. As applications, the graph among all $n$-vertex $C_5$-free (resp. $2C_5$-free) $1$-planar graphs having maximum spectral radius is determined. These results extend spectral Turán type problems for $1$-planar graphs from cliques to cycles and their disjoint union.