Spectral Graph Theory

Department: 
Math
Course Number: 
4803-WAN
Hours - Lecture: 
3
Hours - Lab: 
0
Hours - Recitation: 
0
Hours - Total Credit: 
3
Typical Scheduling: 
Not regularly scheduled

Topics class offered in FALL 2021 by Zhiyu Wang. 

Prerequisites: 

Linear algebra and some familiarity with graph theory

Course Text: 

Spectral Graph Theory by Fan R. K. Chung

Topic Outline: 

The main theme of the course is to explore what eigenvalues and eigenvectors of graphs could tell us about the structure of graphs and exploit these connections for algorithmic purposes. 

Topics that may be covered include: Eigenvalues and the Laplacian of a graph, Isoperimetric problems, Quasi-randomness, Expanders and explicit constructions, Heat kernels, applications on PageRank algorithms, etc.