Edge-addition monotonicity of positive p-energy fails for every p >= 1

arXiv:2609.13476 · math.CO, cs.AI · Submitted 2026-09-11 · Read on arXiv

math.CO, cs.AI

Submitted: 2026-09-11

Updated: 2026-09-11

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

The gist: At a 2021 AIM workshop, Guo conjectured that the positive square energy s+ = E+ 2 should inherit the familiar edge-addition monotonicity of the spectral radius, rho(G + uv) >= rho(G).

Abstract

At a 2021 AIM workshop, Guo conjectured that the positive square energy s+ = E+ 2 should inherit the familiar edge-addition monotonicity of the spectral radius, rho(G + uv) >= rho(G). That conjecture was subsequently shown to fail at p = 2. Tang, Liu, and Wang then introduced positive p-energy, proved nonmonotonicity for every 1 <= p < 3, and in version 3 of their preprint (26 March 2025) explicitly conjectured that monotonicity should hold for p >= 3. We disprove this conjectured high-exponent extension completely: for every real p > 2 there are infinitely many connected graphs G and nonedges uv such that E+ p(G + uv) < E+ p(G). Together with the Tang-Liu-Wang counterexamples below 3, this shows that no exponent p >= 1 restores the spectral-radius-style monotonicity: positive p-energy can decrease under the addition of an edge for every real p >= 1. The construction is a chain of clique blocks joined by regular bipartite graphs. An equitable quotient converges to Q = I + cA(P k). For noninteger p, a binomial-series sign argument for a fractional power of I - cA(P k) gives the required negative endpoint entry. At integer exponents, choosing c across the first spectral threshold leaves exactly one negative eigenvalue, and path locality forces the positive spectral contribution to have negative sign. We also give a fully rational 38-vertex certificate at p = 4 and determine the complete failure interval of a fixed 17-vertex counterexample at p = 3.

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