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Article

Estimate Laplacian Spectral Properties of Large-Scale Networks by Random Walks and Graph Transformation

1
Adaptive Networks and Control Lab, Department of Electronic Engineering, School of information Science and Technology, Fudan University, Shanghai 200240, China
2
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA
3
College of Electronic Engineering, National University of Defense Technology, Hefei 230037, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Mathematics 2026, 14(1), 26; https://doi.org/10.3390/math14010026 (registering DOI)
Submission received: 14 November 2025 / Revised: 11 December 2025 / Accepted: 19 December 2025 / Published: 21 December 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dynamic Analysis and Decision-Making in Complex Networks)

Abstract

For network graphs, numerous graph features are intimately linked to eigenvalues of the Laplacian matrix, such as connectivity and diameter. Thus, it is very important to solve eigenvalues of the Laplacian matrix for graphs. Similarly, for higher-order networks, eigenvalues of combinatorial Laplacian matrices are also important for invariants of graphs. However, for large-scale networks, it is difficult to calculate eigenvalues of the Laplacian matrix directly because it is either very difficult to obtain the whole network structure or requires a lot of computing resources. Therefore, this article makes the following contributions. Firstly, this paper proposes a random walk approach for estimating the bounds of the greatest eigenvalues of Laplacian matrices for large-scale networks. Considering the relationship between the spectral moments of the adjacency matrix and the closed paths in the network, we utilize the relationship between the adjacency matrix and the Laplacian matrix to establish the relationship between the Laplacian matrix and the closed paths. Then, we employ equiprobable random walks to sample the large graph to obtain the small graph. Through algebraic topology knowledge, we obtain the bounds of the largest eigenvalue of the Laplacian matrix of the large graph by using Laplacian spectral moments of the small graph. Secondly, for high-order networks, this paper proposes a method based on random walks and graph transformations. The graph transformation we propose mainly converts graphs with second-order simplices into ordinary weighted graphs, thereby transforming the problem of solving the spectral moments of the second-order combined Laplacian matrix into solving the spectral moments of the adjacency matrix. Then, we use the aforementioned random walk method to solve bounds of the greatest eigenvalue of the second-order combinatorial Laplacian matrix. Finally, by comparing the proposed method with existing algorithms in synthetic and real networks, its accuracy and superiority are demonstrated.
Keywords: large-scale network; Laplacian matrix; combinatorial Laplacian matrix; random walk; graph transformation large-scale network; Laplacian matrix; combinatorial Laplacian matrix; random walk; graph transformation

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Zhan, C.; Li, X.; Chen, J. Estimate Laplacian Spectral Properties of Large-Scale Networks by Random Walks and Graph Transformation. Mathematics 2026, 14, 26. https://doi.org/10.3390/math14010026

AMA Style

Zhan C, Li X, Chen J. Estimate Laplacian Spectral Properties of Large-Scale Networks by Random Walks and Graph Transformation. Mathematics. 2026; 14(1):26. https://doi.org/10.3390/math14010026

Chicago/Turabian Style

Zhan, Changlei, Xiangyu Li, and Jie Chen. 2026. "Estimate Laplacian Spectral Properties of Large-Scale Networks by Random Walks and Graph Transformation" Mathematics 14, no. 1: 26. https://doi.org/10.3390/math14010026

APA Style

Zhan, C., Li, X., & Chen, J. (2026). Estimate Laplacian Spectral Properties of Large-Scale Networks by Random Walks and Graph Transformation. Mathematics, 14(1), 26. https://doi.org/10.3390/math14010026

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