An inequality on the cosines of a tight distance-regular graph

AbstractLet Γ denote a distance-regular graph with diameter d⩾3, and assume Γ is tight in the sense of Jurišić et al. [J. Algebraic Combin. 12 (2000) 163–197]. Let θ denote the second largest or the smallest eigenvalue of Γ. We obtain an inequality involving the first, second and third cosines associated with θ. We investigate the relationship between equality being attained and the existence of dual bipartite Q-polynomial structures on Γ