Isoperimetric Inequalities and Eigenvalues

Abstract An upper bound is given on the minimum distance between i subsets of the same size of a regular graph in terms of the i-th largest eigenvalue in absolute value. This yields a bound on the diameter in terms of the i-th largest eigenvalue, for any integer i. Our bounds are shown to be asymptotically tight. A recent result by Quenell relating the diameter, the second eigenvalue, and the girth of a regular graph is obtained as a byproduct