Essential spectrum of the discrete Laplacian on a perturbed periodic graph

Abstract

We address the Laplacian on a perturbed periodic graph which might not be a periodic graph. We give a criterion for the essential spectrum of the Laplacian on the perturbed graph to include that on the unperturbed graph. This criterion is applicable to a wide class of graphs obtained by a non-compact perturbation such as adding or removing infinitely many vertices and edges. Using this criterion, we demonstrate how to determine the spectra of cone-like graphs, the upper-half plane, and graphs obtained from Z2 by randomly adding vertices.