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Maximal diameter theorem for directed graphs of positive Ricci curvature

Ryunosuke Ozawa Department of Mathematics, National Defense Academy of Japan, 1-10-20 Hashirimizu, Yokosuka, 239-8686, Japan rozawa@nda.ac.jp Yohei Sakurai Department of Mathematics, Saitama University, 255 Shimo-Okubo, Sakura-ku, Saitama-City, Saitama, 338-8570, Japan ysakurai@rimath.saitama-u.ac.jp  and  Taiki Yamada Shimane University, 1060 Nishikawatsu-cho, Matsue, Shimane, 690-8504, Japan taiki_yamada@riko.shimane-u.ac.jp
(Date: April 22, 2021)
Abstract.

In a previous work, the authors [15] have introduced a Lin-Lu-Yau type Ricci curvature for directed graphs, and obtained a diameter comparison of Bonnet-Myers type. In this paper, we investigate rigidity properties for the equality case, and conclude a maximal diameter theorem of Cheng type.

Key words and phrases:
Directed graph; Ricci curvature; Comparison geometry; Diameter; Spectrum
2010 Mathematics Subject Classification:
Primary 05C20, 05C12, 05C81, 53C21, 53C23

1. Introduction

For a Riemannian manifold of positive Ricci curvature, the Bonnet-Myers theorem asserts that its diameter is bounded from above by that of a corresponding standard sphere. Moreover, the Cheng maximal diameter theorem says that the equality in Bonnet-Myers theorem holds if and only if it is isometric the sphere. In this article, we are concerned with their discrete analogues. In [15], the authors have introduced a Lin-Lu-Yau type Ricci curvature for directed graphs, and produced a Bonnet-Myers type diameter comparison theorem. We now aim to examine its equality case. In that case, we derive several results on geometric structure, and some analytic results for the Chung Laplacian.

1.1. Main results

Recently, there are some attempts to introduce the notion of the Ricci curvature for discrete spaces, and the Ricci curvature for (undirected) graphs introduced by Lin-Lu-Yau [11] is one of the well-studied objects (see also a pioneering work of Ollivier [14]). It is well-known that a lower Ricci curvature bound of them leads us to various geometric and analytic consequences (see e.g., [1], [2], [3], [7], [9], [11], [13], [16], and so on). In [11], they have provided a discrete analogue of Bonnet-Myers theorem in Riemannian geometry. Furthermore, Cushing et al. [7] have established that of Cheng maximal diameter theorem for regular graphs. They have investigated their geometric structure in the equality case, and concluded a classification of self-centered regular graphs based on [10].

In [15], the authors have generalized the Lin-Lu-Yau Ricci curvature for directed graphs referring to the formulation of the Laplacian by Chung [5], [6], and extended the Bonnet-Myers theorem in [11] to the directed setting. The purpose of this paper is to observe rigidity phenomena in the equality case. In order to state our main results, we briefly recall some notions on directed graphs (more precisely, see Sections 2 and 3). Let (V,μ)(V,\mu) denote a simple, strongly connected, finite weighted directed graph, where VV denotes the vertex set, and μ:V×V[0,)\mu:V\times V\to[0,\infty) is the (non-symmetric) edge weight. We denote by d:V×V[0,)d:V\times V\to[0,\infty) the (non-symmetric) distance function on VV. For x,yVx,y\in V with xyx\neq y, let κ(x,y)\kappa(x,y) stand for the Ricci curvature introduced in [15] (see Subsection 3.1), and set

(1.1) K:=infxyκ(x,y),K:=\inf_{x\rightarrow y}\kappa(x,y),

where the infimum is taken over all x,yVx,y\in V with xyx\rightarrow y. Here xyx\rightarrow y means that there exists a directed edge from xx to yy. Also, for x,yVx,y\in V, let (x,y)\mathcal{H}(x,y) denote the mixed asymptotic mean curvature introduced in [15] (see Subsection 3.2), and set

(1.2) Λ:=supx,yV(x,y).\Lambda:=\sup_{x,y\in V}\mathcal{H}(x,y).

Notice that Λ2\Lambda\geq 2 in general. The diameter comparison in [15] can be stated as follows (see [15, Theorem 8.3], and also Theorem 3.6 below):

Theorem 1.1 ([15]).

Let (V,μ)(V,\mu) denote a simple, strongly connected, finite weighted directed graph. If K>0K>0, then we have

(1.3) diamVΛK.\operatorname{diam}V\leq\frac{\Lambda}{K}.

We study the equality case in Theorem 1.1. For x,yVx,y\in V with xyx\neq y, we say that (V,μ)(V,\mu) is spherically suspended with poles (x,y)(x,y) if the following properties hold:

  1. (1)

    VV is covered by minimal geodesics from xx to yy, namely,

    V={zVd(x,z)+d(z,y)=d(x,y)};V=\{z\in V\mid d(x,z)+d(z,y)=d(x,y)\};
  2. (2)

    for every minimal geodesic {xi}i=0d(x,y)\{x_{i}\}^{d(x,y)}_{i=0} from xx to yy, it holds that κ(xi,xj)=K\kappa(x_{i},x_{j})=K for all i,j{0,,d(x,y)}i,j\in\{0,\dots,d(x,y)\} with i<ji<j;

  3. (3)

    (x,y)=Λ\mathcal{H}(x,y)=\Lambda.

One of our main theorem is the following structure theorem:

Theorem 1.2.

Let (V,μ)(V,\mu) denote a simple, strongly connected, finite weighted directed graph. We assume K>0K>0, and the equality in (1.3) holds, namely,

(1.4) diamV=ΛK.\operatorname{diam}V=\frac{\Lambda}{K}.

Then (V,μ)(V,\mu) is spherically suspended with poles (x,y)(x,y) for any x,yVx,y\in V with d(x,y)=diamVd(x,y)=\operatorname{diam}V.

Cushing et al. [7] have proved Theorem 1.2 for unweighted, undirected regular graphs (see [7, Lemma 5.3 and Theorem 5.5]).

Remark 1.3.

It seems that the method of the proof in [7] works only for regular graphs. Actually, it is based on the characterization result of the Lin-Lu-Yau Ricci curvature by the so-called Ollivier Ricci curvature with idleness parameter, which has been obtained in [4] (see the proof of [7, Lemma 5.3], and cf. [7, Remark 2.3]). We need to reconsider the method of the proof that is suitable for our setting. To overcome this issue, we refer to the proof of the Cheng maximal diameter theorem in the smooth setting. Here we recall that the Cheng maximal diameter can be proved by combining the Laplacian comparison theorem for the distance functions from poles, which leads us to the superharmonicity of the sum of them, and the minimum principle. We will prove Theorem 1.2 by verifying the minimum principle in our setting, and analyzing our Laplacian comparison (see Lemmas 4.1 and 4.2 below).

Remark 1.4.

Matsumoto [12] has stated Theorem 1.2 for unweighted, undirected (not necessarily regular) graphs in his master thesis in 2010. His method of the proof is based on primitive mass transport techniques without analytic argument, which is completely different from our method.

1.2. Organization

In Section 2, we will review basics of directed graphs. In Section 3, we recall the formulation of the Ricci curvature introduced in [15], and examine its properties. In Section 4, we prove Theorem 1.2. We also show that the equalities in other comparison geometric results hold under the same setting as in Theorem 1.2 (see Theorems 4.4 and 4.5). In Section 5, we will present some examples having maximal diameter.

2. Preliminaries

We here review basics and fundamental facts on directed graphs. We refer to [15].

2.1. Directed graphs

Let (G,μ)(G,\mu) be a finite weighted directed graph, namely, G=(V,E)G=(V,E) is a finite directed graph, and μ:V×V[0,)\mu:V\times V\to[0,\infty) is a function such that μ(x,y)>0\mu(x,y)>0 if and only if xyx\rightarrow y, where xyx\rightarrow y means (x,y)E(x,y)\in E as stated in the above section. We will denote by nn the cardinality of VV. The function μ\mu is called the edge weight, and we write μ(x,y)\mu(x,y) by μxy\mu_{xy}. Note that (G,μ)(G,\mu) is undirected if and only if μxy=μyx\mu_{xy}=\mu_{yx} for all x,yVx,y\in V, and simple if and only if μxx=0\mu_{xx}=0 for all xVx\in V. Also, it is called unweighted if μxy=1\mu_{xy}=1 whenever xyx\rightarrow y. The weighted directed graph can be written as (V,μ)(V,\mu) since the full information of EE is included in μ\mu. We use (V,μ)(V,\mu) instead of (G,μ)(G,\mu) as in [15].

For xVx\in V, its outer neighborhood NxN_{x}, inner one Nx\overleftarrow{N}_{x}, and neighborhood 𝒩x\mathcal{N}_{x} are defined as

Nx:={yVxy},Nx:={yVyx},𝒩x:=NxNx,N_{x}:=\left\{y\in V\mid x\rightarrow y\right\},\quad\overleftarrow{N}_{x}:=\left\{y\in V\mid y\rightarrow x\right\},\quad\mathcal{N}_{x}:=N_{x}\cup\overleftarrow{N}_{x},

respectively. The outer degree deg(x)\overrightarrow{\deg}(x) and inner one deg(x)\overleftarrow{\deg}(x) are defined as the cardinality of NxN_{x} and Nx\overleftarrow{N}_{x}, respectively. In the unweighted case, (V,μ)(V,\mu) is called Eulerian if deg(x)=deg(x)\overrightarrow{\deg}(x)=\overleftarrow{\deg}(x) for all xVx\in V.

For x,yVx,y\in V, a sequence {xi}i=0l\left\{x_{i}\right\}_{i=0}^{l} of vertices is said to be directed path from xx to yy if x0=x,xl=yx_{0}=x,\,x_{l}=y and xixi+1x_{i}\rightarrow x_{i+1} for all i=0,,l1i=0,\dots,l-1, where ll is called its length. Further, (V,μ)(V,\mu) is called strongly connected if for all x,yVx,y\in V, there exists a directed path from xx to yy. For strongly connected (V,μ)(V,\mu), the (non-symmetric) distance function d:V×V[0,)d:V\times V\to[0,\infty) is defined as follows: d(x,y)d(x,y) is defined to be the minimum of the length of directed paths from xx to yy. A directed path {xi}i=0l\left\{x_{i}\right\}_{i=0}^{l} from xx to yy is called minimal geodesic when l=d(x,y)l=d(x,y). The diameter of (V,μ)(V,\mu) is defined as

diamV:=supx,yVd(x,y).\operatorname{diam}V:=\sup_{x,y\in V}d(x,y).

For xVx\in V, the distance function ρx:V\rho_{x}:V\to\mathbb{R}, and the reverse one ρx:V\overleftarrow{\rho}_{x}:V\to\mathbb{R} are done as

ρx(y):=d(x,y),ρx(y):=d(y,x).\rho_{x}(y):=d(x,y),\quad\overleftarrow{\rho}_{x}(y):=d(y,x).

For L>0L>0, a function f:Vf:V\to\mathbb{R} is said to be LL-Lipschitz if

f(y)f(x)Ld(x,y)f(y)-f(x)\leq L\,d(x,y)

for all x,yVx,y\in V. Note that ρx\rho_{x} is 11-Lipschitz, but ρx\overleftarrow{\rho}_{x} is not always 11-Lipschitz. Let LipL(V)\mathrm{Lip}_{L}(V) be the set of all LL-Lipschitz functions on VV.

2.2. Laplacian

In what follows, let (V,μ)(V,\mu) be a simple, strongly connected, finite weighted directed graph. In this subsection, we recall the formulation of the Chung Laplacian introduced in [5], [6]. The transition probability kernel P:V×V[0,1]P:V\times V\to[0,1] is defined as

P(x,y):=μxyμ(x),P(x,y):=\frac{\mu_{xy}}{\mu(x)},

where

μ(x):=yVμxy.\mu(x):=\sum_{y\in V}\mu_{xy}.

Since (V,μ)(V,\mu) is finite and strongly connected, the Perron-Frobenius theorem guarantees that there exists a unique (up to scaling) positive function m:V(0,)m:V\to(0,\infty) such that

(2.1) m(x)=yVm(y)P(y,x).m(x)=\sum_{y\in V}m(y)P(y,x).

A probability measure 𝔪:V(0,1]\mathfrak{m}:V\to(0,1] satisfying (2.1) is called the Perron measure.

Let 𝔪\mathfrak{m} stand for the Perron measure. We define the reverse transition probability kernel P:V×V[0,1]\overleftarrow{P}:V\times V\to[0,1], and the mean transition probability kernel 𝒫:V×V[0,1]\mathcal{P}:V\times V\to[0,1] by

P(x,y):=𝔪(y)𝔪(x)P(y,x),𝒫:=12(P+P).\overleftarrow{P}(x,y):=\frac{\mathfrak{m}(y)}{\mathfrak{m}(x)}P(y,x),\quad\mathcal{P}:=\frac{1}{2}(P+\overleftarrow{P}).
Remark 2.1.

We see that 𝒫(x,y)>0\mathcal{P}(x,y)>0 if and only if y𝒩xy\in\mathcal{N}_{x}.

Remark 2.2.

When (V,μ)(V,\mu) is Eulerian, we possess the following expression (see [5, Examples 1, 2, 3] and [15, Remarks 2.2 and 2.3])

(2.2) 𝒫(x,y)={1deg(x)if xy and yx,12deg(x)if either xy or yx,0otherwise.\mathcal{P}(x,y)=\begin{cases}\cfrac{1}{\overrightarrow{\deg}(x)}&\text{if $x\rightarrow y$ and $y\rightarrow x$},\\ \cfrac{1}{2\,\overrightarrow{\deg}(x)}&\text{if either $x\rightarrow y$ or $y\rightarrow x$},\\ 0&\text{otherwise}.\end{cases}

Let \mathcal{F} be the set of all functions on VV. The Chung Laplacian :\mathcal{L}:\mathcal{F}\to\mathcal{F} is formulated by

f(x):=f(x)yV𝒫(x,y)f(y),\mathcal{L}f(x):=f(x)-\sum_{y\in V}\mathcal{P}(x,y)f(y),

which is symmetric with respect to 𝔪\mathfrak{m}.

2.3. Optimal transport theory

We review the basics of the optimal transport theory (cf. [17]). For two probability measures ν0,ν1\nu_{0},\nu_{1} on VV, a probability measure π:V×V[0,)\pi:V\times V\to[0,\infty) is called a coupling of (ν0,ν1)(\nu_{0},\nu_{1}) if

yVπ(x,y)=ν0(x),xVπ(x,y)=ν1(y).\sum_{y\in V}\pi(x,y)=\nu_{0}(x),\quad\sum_{x\in V}\pi(x,y)=\nu_{1}(y).

Let Π(ν0,ν1)\Pi(\nu_{0},\nu_{1}) be the set of all couplings of (ν0,ν1)(\nu_{0},\nu_{1}). The Wasserstein distance from ν0\nu_{0} to ν1\nu_{1} is defined as

(2.3) W(ν0,ν1):=infπΠ(ν0,ν1)x,yVd(x,y)π(x,y),W(\nu_{0},\nu_{1}):=\inf_{\pi\in\Pi(\nu_{0},\nu_{1})}\sum_{x,y\in V}d(x,y)\pi(x,y),

which is a (non-symmetric) distance function on the set of all probability measures on VV.

The following Kantorovich-Rubinstein duality formula is well-known (cf. [17, Theorem 5.10 and Particular Cases 5.4 and 5.16]):

Proposition 2.3.

For any two probability measures ν0,ν1\nu_{0},\nu_{1} on VV, we have

W(ν0,ν1)=supfLip1(V)xVf(x)(ν1(x)ν0(x)).W(\nu_{0},\nu_{1})=\sup_{f\in\mathrm{Lip}_{1}(V)}\sum_{x\in V}f(x)\left(\nu_{1}(x)-\nu_{0}(x)\right).

3. Curvatures

In this section, we investigate some basic properties of curvatures on directed graphs.

3.1. Ricci curvature

For ε[0,1]\varepsilon\in[0,1], and for x,yVx,y\in V with xyx\neq y, we set

κε(x,y):=1W(νxε,νyε)d(x,y),\kappa_{\varepsilon}(x,y):=1-\frac{W(\nu^{\varepsilon}_{x},\nu^{\varepsilon}_{y})}{d(x,y)},

where νxε:V[0,1]\nu^{\varepsilon}_{x}:V\to[0,1] is a probability measure defined by

νxε(z)=(1ε)δx(z)+ε𝒫(x,z)\nu^{\varepsilon}_{x}(z)=(1-\varepsilon)\delta_{x}(z)+\varepsilon\,\mathcal{P}(x,z)

for the Dirac measure δx\delta_{x}. The authors [15] have introduced the Ricci curvature as follows (see [15, Definition 3.6]):

κ(x,y):=limε0κε(x,y)ε,\kappa(x,y):=\lim_{\varepsilon\to 0}\frac{\kappa_{\varepsilon}(x,y)}{\varepsilon},

which is well-defined (see [15, Lemmas 3.2 and 3.4, and Definition 3.6]). In the undirected case, this is nothing but the Lin-Lu-Yau Ricci curvature in [11].

We recall a characterization of the Ricci curvature in terms of the Chung Laplacian \mathcal{L}. Let x,yVx,y\in V with xyx\neq y. The gradient operator is defined by

xyf:=f(y)f(x)d(x,y)\nabla_{xy}f:=\frac{f(y)-f(x)}{d(x,y)}

for f:Vf:V\to\mathbb{R}. We set

xy:={fLip1(V)xyf=1}.\mathcal{F}_{xy}:=\{f\in\mathrm{Lip}_{1}(V)\mid\nabla_{xy}f=1\}.

We possess the following characterization, which has been obtained by Münch-Wojciechowski [13] in the undirected case (see [15, Theorem 3.10], and also [13, Theorem 2.1]):

Theorem 3.1 ([13], [15]).
κ(x,y)=inffxyxyf.\kappa(x,y)=\inf_{f\in\mathcal{F}_{xy}}\nabla_{xy}\mathcal{L}f.

Our Ricci curvature satisfies the following (see [11, Lemma 2.3], [15, Proposition 3.8]):

Proposition 3.2 ([11], [15]).
infxyκ(x,y)K,\inf_{x\neq y}\kappa(x,y)\geq K,

where KK is defined as (1.1).

The authors [15] have stated Proposition 3.2 without proof. For completeness, we give its proof. Proposition 3.2 is a direct consequence of the following lemma:

Lemma 3.3.

Let x,yVx,y\in V with xyx\neq y, and let {xi}i=0l\{x_{i}\}^{l}_{i=0} be a minimal geodesic from xx to yy with l=d(x,y)l=d(x,y). We set z:=xaz:=x_{a} and w:=xbw:=x_{b} for some a,b{0,,l}a,b\in\{0,\dots,l\} with a<ba<b. Then the following hold:

  1. (1)

    If a1a\geq 1 and bl1b\leq l-1, then

    (3.1) κ(x,y)d(x,y)i=0a1κ(xi,xi+1)+κ(z,w)d(z,w)+i=bl1κ(xi,xi+1);\kappa(x,y)d(x,y)\geq\sum^{a-1}_{i=0}\kappa(x_{i},x_{i+1})+\kappa(z,w)d(z,w)+\sum^{l-1}_{i=b}\kappa(x_{i},x_{i+1});
  2. (2)

    If a1a\geq 1 and b=lb=l, then

    (3.2) κ(x,y)d(x,y)i=0a1κ(xi,xi+1)+κ(z,y)d(z,y);\kappa(x,y)d(x,y)\geq\sum^{a-1}_{i=0}\kappa(x_{i},x_{i+1})+\kappa(z,y)d(z,y);
  3. (3)

    If a=0a=0 and bl1b\leq l-1, then

    (3.3) κ(x,y)d(x,y)κ(x,w)d(x,w)+i=bl1κ(xi,xi+1).\kappa(x,y)d(x,y)\geq\kappa(x,w)d(x,w)+\sum^{l-1}_{i=b}\kappa(x_{i},x_{i+1}).
Proof.

We only show the inequality (3.1). The others (3.2), (3.3) can be proved by the same argument, and more easily. By the triangle inequality of WW,

W(νxε,νyε)i=0a1W(νxiε,νxi+1ε)+W(νzε,νwε)+i=bl1W(νxiε,νxi+1ε).W(\nu^{\varepsilon}_{x},\nu^{\varepsilon}_{y})\leq\sum^{a-1}_{i=0}W(\nu^{\varepsilon}_{x_{i}},\nu^{\varepsilon}_{x_{i+1}})+W(\nu^{\varepsilon}_{z},\nu^{\varepsilon}_{w})+\sum^{l-1}_{i=b}W(\nu^{\varepsilon}_{x_{i}},\nu^{\varepsilon}_{x_{i+1}}).

Since d(x,y)=ld(x,y)=l and d(z,w)=bad(z,w)=b-a, we see

κε(x,y)\displaystyle\quad\,\,\kappa_{\varepsilon}(x,y)
11l{i=0a1W(νxiε,νxi+1ε)+W(νzε,νwε)+i=bl1W(νxiε,νxi+1ε)}\displaystyle\geq 1-\frac{1}{l}\left\{\sum^{a-1}_{i=0}W(\nu^{\varepsilon}_{x_{i}},\nu^{\varepsilon}_{x_{i+1}})+W(\nu^{\varepsilon}_{z},\nu^{\varepsilon}_{w})+\sum^{l-1}_{i=b}W(\nu^{\varepsilon}_{x_{i}},\nu^{\varepsilon}_{x_{i+1}})\right\}
1+1l{a+i=0a1(1W(νxiε,νxi+1ε))}+1l{d(z,w)+d(z,w)(1W(νzε,νwε)d(z,w))}\displaystyle\geq 1+\frac{1}{l}\left\{-a+\sum^{a-1}_{i=0}(1-W(\nu^{\varepsilon}_{x_{i}},\nu^{\varepsilon}_{x_{i+1}}))\right\}+\frac{1}{l}\left\{-d(z,w)+d(z,w)\left(1-\frac{W(\nu^{\varepsilon}_{z},\nu^{\varepsilon}_{w})}{d(z,w)}\right)\right\}
+1l{(lb)+i=bl1(1W(νxiε,νxi+1ε))}\displaystyle\qquad\qquad\qquad\qquad\qquad\qquad\qquad\qquad\quad\,\,\,\,\,+\frac{1}{l}\left\{-(l-b)+\sum^{l-1}_{i=b}(1-W(\nu^{\varepsilon}_{x_{i}},\nu^{\varepsilon}_{x_{i+1}}))\right\}
=1l{i=0a1κε(xi,xi+1)+(ba)κε(z,w)+i=bl1κε(xi,xi+1)}.\displaystyle=\frac{1}{l}\left\{\sum^{a-1}_{i=0}\kappa_{\varepsilon}(x_{i},x_{i+1})+(b-a)\kappa_{\varepsilon}(z,w)+\sum^{l-1}_{i=b}\kappa_{\varepsilon}(x_{i},x_{i+1})\right\}.

By dividing the both sides by ε\varepsilon, and by letting ε0\varepsilon\to 0, we complete the proof. \Box

Proof of Proposition 3.2.

Proposition 3.2 follows from choosing b=a+1b=a+1 in Lemma 3.3. \Box

3.2. Asymptotic mean curvature

In the present subsection, we recall the notion of the asymptotic mean curvature introduced by the authors [15]. For xVx\in V, the asymptotic mean curvature x\mathcal{H}_{x} around xx, and the reverse one x\overleftarrow{\mathcal{H}}_{x} are defined as

x:=ρx(x),x:=ρx(x).\mathcal{H}_{x}:=\mathcal{L}\rho_{x}(x),\quad\overleftarrow{\mathcal{H}}_{x}:=\mathcal{L}\overleftarrow{\rho}_{x}(x).

It holds that x1\mathcal{H}_{x}\leq-1 and x1\overleftarrow{\mathcal{H}}_{x}\leq-1 in general; moreover, the equalities hold in the undirected case. In particular, they play an essential role in the directed case. For x,yVx,y\in V, the mixed asymptotic mean curvature (x,y)\mathcal{H}(x,y) is defined by

(x,y):=(x+y).\mathcal{H}(x,y):=-(\mathcal{H}_{x}+\overleftarrow{\mathcal{H}}_{y}).

We have (x,y)2\mathcal{H}(x,y)\geq 2; moreover, the equality holds in the undirected case.

3.3. Products

We consider the weighted Cartesian product of (V,μ)(V,\mu), and another simple, strongly connected, finite weighted directed graph (V,μ)(V^{\prime},\mu^{\prime}). For two parameters α,β>0\alpha,\beta>0, the (α,β)(\alpha,\beta)-weighted Cartesian product (V,μ)(α,β)(V,μ)(V,\mu)\square_{(\alpha,\beta)}(V^{\prime},\mu^{\prime}) of (V,μ)(V,\mu) and (V,μ)(V^{\prime},\mu^{\prime}) is defined as follows: Its vertex set is V×VV\times V^{\prime}, and its edge weight is

μ(α,β)(𝐱,𝐲):=βμ(x)μxyδx(y)+αμ(x)μxyδx(y)\mu_{(\alpha,\beta)}(\mathbf{x},\mathbf{y}):=\beta\mu^{\prime}(x^{\prime})\mu_{xy}\,\delta_{x^{\prime}}(y^{\prime})+\alpha\mu(x)\mu^{\prime}_{x^{\prime}y^{\prime}}\,\delta_{x}(y)

for 𝐱=(x,x),𝐲=(y,y)V×V\mathbf{x}=(x,x^{\prime}),\mathbf{y}=(y,y^{\prime})\in V\times V^{\prime}, where μ(x)\mu^{\prime}(x^{\prime}) denotes the vertex weight at xx^{\prime} on (V,μ)(V^{\prime},\mu^{\prime}). The distance function d(α,β):(V×V)×(V×V)[0,)d_{(\alpha,\beta)}:(V\times V^{\prime})\times(V\times V^{\prime})\to[0,\infty) should be

(3.4) d(α,β)(𝐱,𝐲)=d(x,y)+d(x,y)d_{(\alpha,\beta)}(\mathbf{x},\mathbf{y})=d(x,y)+d^{\prime}(x^{\prime},y^{\prime})

for the distance functions dd and dd^{\prime} on (V,μ)(V,\mu) and (V,μ)(V^{\prime},\mu^{\prime}), respectively.

Let 𝐱=(x,x),𝐲=(y,y)V×V\mathbf{x}=(x,x^{\prime}),\mathbf{y}=(y,y^{\prime})\in V\times V^{\prime}. Let x,x,(x,y)\mathcal{H}^{\prime}_{x^{\prime}},\overleftarrow{\mathcal{H}}^{\prime}_{x^{\prime}},\mathcal{H}^{\prime}(x^{\prime},y^{\prime}) denote the asymptotic mean curvature around xx^{\prime}, the reverse one, the mixed asymptotic mean curvature over (V,μ)(V^{\prime},\mu^{\prime}), respectively. Also, let (α,β),𝐱,(α,β),𝐱,(α,β)(𝐱,𝐲)\mathcal{H}_{(\alpha,\beta),\mathbf{x}},\overleftarrow{\mathcal{H}}_{(\alpha,\beta),\mathbf{x}},\mathcal{H}_{(\alpha,\beta)}(\mathbf{x},\mathbf{y}) be the asymptotic mean curvature around 𝐱\mathbf{x}, the reverse one, the mixed asymptotic mean curvature over (V,μ)(α,β)(V,μ)(V,\mu)\square_{(\alpha,\beta)}(V^{\prime},\mu^{\prime}), respectively. We summarize formulas for asymptotic mean curvature (see [15, Proposition 5.5]):

Proposition 3.4 ([15]).
(α,β),𝐱\displaystyle\mathcal{H}_{(\alpha,\beta),\mathbf{x}} =βα+βx+αα+βx,\displaystyle=\frac{\beta}{\alpha+\beta}\mathcal{H}_{x}+\frac{\alpha}{\alpha+\beta}\mathcal{H}^{\prime}_{x^{\prime}},
(α,β),𝐱\displaystyle\overleftarrow{\mathcal{H}}_{(\alpha,\beta),\mathbf{x}} =βα+βx+αα+βx,\displaystyle=\frac{\beta}{\alpha+\beta}\overleftarrow{\mathcal{H}}_{x}+\frac{\alpha}{\alpha+\beta}\overleftarrow{\mathcal{H}}^{\prime}_{x^{\prime}},
(3.5) (α,β)(𝐱,𝐲)\displaystyle\mathcal{H}_{(\alpha,\beta)}(\mathbf{x},\mathbf{y}) =βα+β(x,y)+αα+β(x,y).\displaystyle=\frac{\beta}{\alpha+\beta}\mathcal{H}(x,y)+\frac{\alpha}{\alpha+\beta}\mathcal{H}^{\prime}(x^{\prime},y^{\prime}).

For x,yVx^{\prime},y^{\prime}\in V^{\prime} with xyx^{\prime}\neq y^{\prime}, let κ(x,y)\kappa^{\prime}(x^{\prime},y^{\prime}) denote the Ricci curvature over (V,μ)(V^{\prime},\mu^{\prime}). For 𝐱,𝐲V×V\mathbf{x},\mathbf{y}\in V\times V^{\prime} with 𝐱𝐲\mathbf{x}\neq\mathbf{y}, we further denote by κ(α,β)(𝐱,𝐲)\kappa_{(\alpha,\beta)}(\mathbf{x},\mathbf{y}) the Ricci curvature over (V,μ)(α,β)(V,μ)(V,\mu)\square_{(\alpha,\beta)}(V^{\prime},\mu^{\prime}). We possess the following formulas (see [15, Theorem 5.6], and also [11, Theorem 3.1] in the undirected case):

Theorem 3.5 ([11], [15]).
  1. (1)

    If xyx\neq y and xyx^{\prime}\neq y^{\prime}, then

    κ(α,β)(𝐱,𝐲)=βα+βd(x,y)d(x,y)+d(x,y)κ(x,y)+αα+βd(x,y)d(x,y)+d(x,y)κ(x,y);\kappa_{(\alpha,\beta)}(\mathbf{x},\mathbf{y})=\frac{\beta}{\alpha+\beta}\frac{d(x,y)}{d(x,y)+d^{\prime}(x^{\prime},y^{\prime})}\kappa(x,y)+\frac{\alpha}{\alpha+\beta}\frac{d^{\prime}(x^{\prime},y^{\prime})}{d(x,y)+d^{\prime}(x^{\prime},y^{\prime})}\kappa^{\prime}(x^{\prime},y^{\prime});
  2. (2)

    if xyx\neq y and x=yx^{\prime}=y^{\prime}, then

    κ(α,β)(𝐱,𝐲)=βα+βκ(x,y);\kappa_{(\alpha,\beta)}(\mathbf{x},\mathbf{y})=\frac{\beta}{\alpha+\beta}\kappa(x,y);
  3. (3)

    if x=yx=y and xyx^{\prime}\neq y^{\prime}, then

    κ(α,β)(𝐱,𝐲)=αα+βκ(x,y).\kappa_{(\alpha,\beta)}(\mathbf{x},\mathbf{y})=\frac{\alpha}{\alpha+\beta}\kappa^{\prime}(x^{\prime},y^{\prime}).

3.4. Comparison geometric results

In this subsection, we review comparison geometric results under our lower Ricci curvature bound. We begin with the diameter comparison (see [15, Theorem 8.3], and also [11, Theorem 4.1] in the undirected case).

Theorem 3.6 ([11], [15]).

Let x,yVx,y\in V with xyx\neq y. If κ(x,y)>0\kappa(x,y)>0, then

d(x,y)(x,y)κ(x,y).d(x,y)\leq\frac{\mathcal{H}(x,y)}{\kappa(x,y)}.

For later convenience, we explain how to derive Theorem 1.1 from Theorem 3.6.

Proof of Theorem 1.1.

Let x,yVx,y\in V satisfy d(x,y)=diamVd(x,y)=\operatorname{diam}V. By combining Proposition 3.2 and Theorem 3.6, we conclude

(3.6) Kinfzwκ(z,w)κ(x,y)(x,y)d(x,y)ΛdiamV,K\leq\inf_{z\neq w}\kappa(z,w)\leq\kappa(x,y)\leq\frac{\mathcal{H}(x,y)}{d(x,y)}\leq\frac{\Lambda}{\operatorname{diam}V},

where Λ\Lambda is defined as (1.2). This completes the proof of Theorem 1.1. \Box

Remark 3.7.

Assume that the equality in (1.3) holds. Then the equalities in (3.6) also hold. In particular, for any x,yVx,y\in V with d(x,y)=diamVd(x,y)=\operatorname{diam}V, we see

K=κ(x,y)=(x,y)d(x,y)=ΛdiamV.K=\kappa(x,y)=\frac{\mathcal{H}(x,y)}{d(x,y)}=\frac{\Lambda}{\operatorname{diam}V}.

We next discuss the Laplacian comparison (see [15, Theorem 1.1], and also [13, Theorem 4.1] in the undirected case).

Theorem 3.8 ([13], [15]).

Let xVx\in V. On VV, we have

ρxKρx+x,ρxKρx+x.\mathcal{L}\rho_{x}\geq K\rho_{x}+\mathcal{H}_{x},\quad\mathcal{L}\overleftarrow{\rho}_{x}\geq K\overleftarrow{\rho}_{x}+\overleftarrow{\mathcal{H}}_{x}.
Proof.

The first one has been proved in [15]. We show the reverse one. We fix yVy\in V. We may assume yxy\neq x. Notice that ρxyx-\overleftarrow{\rho}_{x}\in\mathcal{F}_{yx}. Thanks to Proposition 3.2 and Theorem 3.1,

Kκ(y,x)yx(ρx)=(ρx)(x)(ρx)(y)d(y,x)=x+ρx(y)ρx(y).K\leq\kappa(y,x)\leq\nabla_{yx}\mathcal{L}(-\overleftarrow{\rho}_{x})=\frac{\mathcal{L}(-\overleftarrow{\rho}_{x})(x)-\mathcal{L}(-\overleftarrow{\rho}_{x})(y)}{d(y,x)}=\frac{-\overleftarrow{\mathcal{H}}_{x}+\mathcal{L}\overleftarrow{\rho}_{x}(y)}{\overleftarrow{\rho}_{x}(y)}.

This proves the desired one. \Box

We finally consider the eigenvalue comparison. Let

0=λ0(V)<λ1(V)λ2(V)λn1(V)0=\lambda_{0}(V)<\lambda_{1}(V)\leq\lambda_{2}(V)\leq\dots\leq\lambda_{n-1}(V)

stand for the eigenvalues of \mathcal{L}. We have the following eigenvalue comparison of Lichnerowicz type (see [15, Theorem 8.2], and also [11, Theorem 4.2] in the undirected case):

Theorem 3.9 ([11], [15]).

If K>0K>0, then we have

λ1(V)K.\lambda_{1}(V)\geq K.

4. Proof of the main results

In this section, we prove our main theorems.

4.1. Structure results

A function f:Vf:V\to\mathbb{R} is said to be superharmonic when

(4.1) f0\mathcal{L}f\geq 0

over VV. We first show the following minimum principle (cf. [8, Proposition 1.39]):

Lemma 4.1.

Any superharmonic functions must be constant.

Proof.

Let f:Vf:V\to\mathbb{R} be superharmonic. Set

M:=infxVf(x),Ω:={xVf(x)=M}.M:=\inf_{x\in V}f(x),\quad\Omega:=\{x\in V\mid f(x)=M\}.

Since VV is finite, Ω\Omega is non-empty. We first show that if xΩx\in\Omega, then 𝒩xΩ\mathcal{N}_{x}\subset\Omega. By (4.1) and Remark 2.1, we have

M=f(x)yV𝒫(x,y)f(y)=y𝒩x𝒫(x,y)f(y)My𝒩x𝒫(x,y)=M.M=f(x)\geq\sum_{y\in V}\mathcal{P}(x,y)f(y)=\sum_{y\in\mathcal{N}_{x}}\mathcal{P}(x,y)f(y)\geq M\sum_{y\in\mathcal{N}_{x}}\mathcal{P}(x,y)=M.

In particular, all equalities hold, and hence 𝒩xΩ\mathcal{N}_{x}\subset\Omega.

We now prove V=ΩV=\Omega. Fix xVx\in V. We can take x0Ωx_{0}\in\Omega since Ω\Omega\neq\emptyset. We also take a minimal geodesic {xi}i=0l\{x_{i}\}_{i=0}^{l} from x0x_{0} to xx. From the above argument, we see x1Ωx_{1}\in\Omega. Furthermore, by induction, we conclude xlΩx_{l}\in\Omega. Thus V=ΩV=\Omega, and hence fMf\equiv M. \Box

We next deduce the following superharmonicity:

Lemma 4.2.

Under the same setting as in Theorem 1.2, for any x,yMx,y\in M with d(x,y)=diamVd(x,y)=\operatorname{diam}V, the function ρx+ρy\rho_{x}+\overleftarrow{\rho}_{y} is superharmonic.

Proof.

In view of Remark 3.7,

Kd(x,y)=(x,y).Kd(x,y)=\mathcal{H}(x,y).

This together with Theorem 3.8 and the triangle inequality yields

(4.2) (ρx+ρy)K(ρx+ρy)+(x+y)Kd(x,y)(x,y)=0.\mathcal{L}(\rho_{x}+\overleftarrow{\rho}_{y})\geq K(\rho_{x}+\overleftarrow{\rho}_{y})+(\mathcal{H}_{x}+\overleftarrow{\mathcal{H}}_{y})\geq Kd(x,y)-\mathcal{H}(x,y)=0.

We complete the proof. \Box

We further show the following:

Lemma 4.3.

Let x,yVx,y\in V with xyx\neq y, and let {xi}i=0l\{x_{i}\}^{l}_{i=0} be a minimal geodesic from xx to yy with l=d(x,y)l=d(x,y). Set z:=xaz:=x_{a} and w:=xbw:=x_{b} for some a,b{0,,l}a,b\in\{0,\dots,l\} with a<ba<b. If κ(x,y)=K\kappa(x,y)=K, then κ(z,w)=K\kappa(z,w)=K.

Proof.

In virtue of Proposition 3.2, it is enough to prove that if κ(x,y)K\kappa(x,y)\leq K, then κ(z,w)K\kappa(z,w)\leq K. We only consider the case where a1a\geq 1 and bl1b\leq l-1. By (3.1) in Lemma 3.3,

Kd(x,y)\displaystyle Kd(x,y) κ(x,y)d(x,y)i=0a1κ(xi,xi+1)+κ(z,w)d(z,w)+i=bl1κ(xi,xi+1)\displaystyle\geq\kappa(x,y)d(x,y)\geq\sum^{a-1}_{i=0}\kappa(x_{i},x_{i+1})+\kappa(z,w)d(z,w)+\sum^{l-1}_{i=b}\kappa(x_{i},x_{i+1})
K(lb+a)+κ(z,w)d(z,w)=Kd(x,y)Kd(z,w)+κ(z,w)d(z,w).\displaystyle\geq K(l-b+a)+\kappa(z,w)d(z,w)=Kd(x,y)-Kd(z,w)+\kappa(z,w)d(z,w).

Hence, κ(z,w)K\kappa(z,w)\leq K. In the other cases, it suffices to use (3.2), (3.3) instead of (3.1). \Box

We are now in a position to prove Theorem 1.2.

Proof of Theorem 1.2.

Assume that K>0K>0 and (1.4). Lemmas 4.1 and 4.2 lead us that

(4.3) ρx+ρyd(x,y)\rho_{x}+\overleftarrow{\rho}_{y}\equiv d(x,y)

on VV, and we complete the proof of the first claim of Theorem 1.2. The second one directly follows from Remark 3.7 and Lemma 4.3. Also, the third one can be derived from Remark 3.7. Thus (V,μ)(V,\mu) is spherically suspended. \Box

4.2. Sharpness of comparison geometric results

Here we show that under the same setting as in Theorem 1.2, the equalities in other comparison geometric results hold. First, we mention the Laplacian comparison:

Theorem 4.4.

Under the same setting as in Theorem 1.2, the equalities in Theorem 3.8 hold. More precisely, on VV,

ρx=Kρx+x,ρy=Kρy+y.\mathcal{L}\rho_{x}=K\rho_{x}+\mathcal{H}_{x},\quad\mathcal{L}\overleftarrow{\rho}_{y}=K\overleftarrow{\rho}_{y}+\overleftarrow{\mathcal{H}}_{y}.
Proof.

By (4.3), the equalities in (4.2) hold. We arrive at the desired assertion. \Box

We next discuss the eigenvalue comparison.

Theorem 4.5.

Under the same setting as in Theorem 1.2, the equality in Theorem 3.9 holds. More precisely,

λ1(V)=K.\lambda_{1}(V)=K.
Proof.

We define a function f:Vf:V\to\mathbb{R} by

f:=ρx+xK.f:=\rho_{x}+\frac{\mathcal{H}_{x}}{K}.

Due to Theorem 4.4,

f=ρx=Kρx+x=Kf.\mathcal{L}f=\mathcal{L}\rho_{x}=K\rho_{x}+\mathcal{H}_{x}=Kf.

In particular, KK is an eigenvalue of \mathcal{L} with eigenfunction ff. We obtain λ1(V)K\lambda_{1}(V)\leq K, and the equality in Theorem 3.9 holds. \Box

Cushing et al. [7] have proved Theorem 4.5 for unweighted, undirected regular graphs (see [7, Theorem 1.5]).

5. Examples

In this last section, we aim to present (purely) directed graphs having maximal diameter. For kk\in\mathbb{R}, we say that (V,μ)(V,\mu) has constant Ricci curvature kk if κ(x,y)=k\kappa(x,y)=k for all edges (x,y)E(x,y)\in E. In that case we denote by κ(V,μ)=k\kappa(V,\mu)=k.

5.1. Directed complete graphs

For n3n\geq 3, we consider the unweighted directed complete graph with nn vertices, denoted by 𝒦n\mathcal{K}_{n} (see Figure 1).

Refer to caption
Figure 1. Directed complete graphs

It is easy to see that

(5.1) diam𝒦n=2,xi=xi=(1+12(n2)),Λ=2+1n2\operatorname{diam}\mathcal{K}_{n}=2,\quad\mathcal{H}_{x_{i}}=\overleftarrow{\mathcal{H}}_{x_{i}}=-\left(1+\cfrac{1}{2(n-2)}\right),\quad\Lambda=2+\cfrac{1}{n-2}

for all n3n\geq 3 and i=1,,ni=1,\dots,n. The authors [15] have calculated the Ricci curvature of the edges of 𝒦n\mathcal{K}_{n} as follows (see [15, Example 4.1]): (1) κ(𝒦3)=3/2\kappa(\mathcal{K}_{3})=3/2; (2) if n=4n=4, then we have

κ(x1,xi)={1if i=2,32if i=3;\displaystyle\kappa(x_{1},x_{i})=\begin{cases}1&\text{if $i=2$},\\ \cfrac{3}{2}&\text{if $i=3$};\end{cases}

(3) if n=5n=5, then we have

κ(x1,xi)={1if i=2,76if i=3 or 4;\displaystyle\kappa(x_{1},x_{i})=\begin{cases}1&\text{if $i=2$},\\ \cfrac{7}{6}&\text{if $i=3$ or $4$};\end{cases}

(4) if n6n\geq 6, then we have

κ(x1,xi)={1if i=2 or i{4,,n2},1+12(n2)if i=3 or n1.\displaystyle\kappa(x_{1},x_{i})=\begin{cases}1&\text{if $i=2$ or $i\in\{4,\dots,n-2\}$},\\ 1+\cfrac{1}{2(n-2)}&\text{if $i=3$ or $n-1$}.\end{cases}

In particular,

(5.2) K={32if n=3,1if n4.K=\begin{cases}\cfrac{3}{2}&\text{if $n=3$},\\ 1&\text{if $n\geq 4$}.\end{cases}

By (5.1), (5.2), the equality (1.4) in holds on 𝒦n\mathcal{K}_{n} if and only if n=3n=3. Actually, 𝒦n\mathcal{K}_{n} is not spherically suspended for n4n\geq 4 although it is covered by minimal geodesics from x1x_{1} to xnx_{n}.

Remark 5.1.

It is remarkable that undirected (usual) complete graph with 33 vertices does not have maximal diameter.

5.2. Directed triforce graphs

We next observe the unweighted directed triforce graph 𝒯\mathcal{T} (see Figure 2).

Refer to caption
Figure 2. Directed triforce graph

We verify that κ(𝒯)=3/4\kappa(\mathcal{T})=3/4, and 𝒯\mathcal{T} has maximal diameter as follows: It is trivial that

(5.3) diam𝒯=4.\operatorname{diam}\mathcal{T}=4.

We calculate the asymptotic mean curvature. Since 𝒯\mathcal{T} is Eulerian, the formula (2.2) implies

(5.4) 𝒫(x1,z)={12if z=x2 or x6,0otherwise,𝒫(x2,z)={14if z=x1 or x3 or x4 or x6,0otherwise,\mathcal{P}(x_{1},z)=\begin{cases}\cfrac{1}{2}&\text{if $z=x_{2}$ or $x_{6}$},\\ 0&\text{otherwise},\end{cases}\quad\mathcal{P}(x_{2},z)=\begin{cases}\cfrac{1}{4}&\text{if $z=x_{1}$ or $x_{3}$ or $x_{4}$ or $x_{6}$},\\ 0&\text{otherwise},\end{cases}

for instance. From straightforward computations, it follows that

(5.5) xi=xi=32,Λ=3\mathcal{H}_{x_{i}}=\overleftarrow{\mathcal{H}}_{x_{i}}=-\frac{3}{2},\quad\Lambda=3

for all ii. Let us check that κ(𝒯)=3/4\kappa(\mathcal{T})=3/4. To do so, by the symmetry, it is enough to calculate κ(x1,x2),κ(x2,x6)\kappa(x_{1},x_{2}),\,\kappa(x_{2},x_{6}) and κ(x2,x3)\kappa(x_{2},x_{3}). We here only present the calculation for κ(x1,x2)\kappa(x_{1},x_{2}), and the others are left to the reader. By (5.4),

νx1ε(z)={1εif z=x,ε2if z=x2 or x6,0otherwise,νx2ε(z)={1εif z=y,ε4if z=x1 or x3 or x4 or x6,0otherwise.\displaystyle\nu^{\varepsilon}_{x_{1}}(z)=\begin{cases}1-\varepsilon&\text{if $z=x$,}\\ \cfrac{\varepsilon}{2}&\text{if $z=x_{2}$ or $x_{6}$,}\\ 0&\text{otherwise},\end{cases}\quad\nu^{\varepsilon}_{x_{2}}(z)=\begin{cases}1-\varepsilon&\text{if $z=y$,}\\ \cfrac{\varepsilon}{4}&\text{if $z=x_{1}$ or $x_{3}$ or $x_{4}$ or $x_{6}$,}\\ 0&\text{otherwise}.\end{cases}

We define a coupling π\pi of (νx1ε,νx2ε)(\nu^{\varepsilon}_{x_{1}},\nu^{\varepsilon}_{x_{2}}) by

π(z,w):={1εε2if (z,w)=(x1,x2),ε4if (z,w)=(x1,x1) or (x1,x3) or (x6,x4) or (x6,x6),0otherwise.\displaystyle\pi(z,w):=\begin{cases}1-\varepsilon-\cfrac{\varepsilon}{2}&\text{if $(z,w)=(x_{1},x_{2})$},\\ \cfrac{\varepsilon}{4}&\text{if $(z,w)=(x_{1},x_{1})$ or $(x_{1},x_{3})$ or $(x_{6},x_{4})$ or $(x_{6},x_{6})$},\\ 0&\text{otherwise}.\end{cases}

Then one can prove W(νx1ε,νx2ε)13ε/4W(\nu^{\varepsilon}_{x_{1}},\nu^{\varepsilon}_{x_{2}})\leq 1-3\varepsilon/4 by (2.3), and hence κ(x1,x2)3/4\kappa(x_{1},x_{2})\geq 3/4. To check the opposite inequality, we define a 11-Lipschitz function f:Vf:V\to\mathbb{R} by

f(z):={2if z=x3,1if z=x2,1if z=x6,0otherwise.\displaystyle f(z):=\begin{cases}2&\text{if $z=x_{3}$},\\ 1&\text{if $z=x_{2}$},\\ -1&\text{if $z=x_{6}$},\\ 0&\text{otherwise}.\end{cases}

Applying Proposition 2.3 to the function ff, we obtain κ(x1,x2)3/4\kappa(x_{1},x_{2})\leq 3/4. This proves κ(x1,x2)=3/4\kappa(x_{1},x_{2})=3/4. Notice that in the verification of κ(x2,x6)=3/4\kappa(x_{2},x_{6})=3/4, we use

π(z,w)\displaystyle\pi(z,w) :={1εε4if (z,w)=(x2,x6),ε4if (z,w)=(x1,x1) or (x2,x2) or (x3,x5) or (x4,x4) or (x6,x6),0otherwise,\displaystyle:=\begin{cases}1-\varepsilon-\cfrac{\varepsilon}{4}&\text{if $(z,w)=(x_{2},x_{6})$},\\ \cfrac{\varepsilon}{4}&\text{if $(z,w)=(x_{1},x_{1})$ or $(x_{2},x_{2})$ or $(x_{3},x_{5})$ or $(x_{4},x_{4})$ or $(x_{6},x_{6})$},\\ 0&\text{otherwise},\end{cases}
f(z)\displaystyle f(z) :={2if z=x5,1if z=x4 or x6,0otherwise.\displaystyle:=\begin{cases}2&\text{if $z=x_{5}$},\\ 1&\text{if $z=x_{4}$ or $x_{6}$},\\ 0&\text{otherwise}.\end{cases}

Also, in the verification of κ(x2,x3)=3/4\kappa(x_{2},x_{3})=3/4,

π(z,w)\displaystyle\pi(z,w) :={1εε2if (z,w)=(x2,x3),ε4if (z,w)=(x1,x3) or (x3,x3) or (x4,x4) or (x6,x4),0otherwise,\displaystyle:=\begin{cases}1-\varepsilon-\cfrac{\varepsilon}{2}&\text{if $(z,w)=(x_{2},x_{3})$},\\ \cfrac{\varepsilon}{4}&\text{if $(z,w)=(x_{1},x_{3})$ or $(x_{3},x_{3})$ or $(x_{4},x_{4})$ or $(x_{6},x_{4})$},\\ 0&\text{otherwise},\end{cases}
f(z)\displaystyle f(z) :={2if z=x4,1if z=x3 or x6,0otherwise.\displaystyle:=\begin{cases}2&\text{if $z=x_{4}$},\\ 1&\text{if $z=x_{3}$ or $x_{6}$},\\ 0&\text{otherwise}.\end{cases}

Thus we arrive at

(5.6) κ(𝒯)=34,K=34.\kappa(\mathcal{T})=\frac{3}{4},\quad K=\frac{3}{4}.

Combining (5.3), (5.5) and (5.6), we conclude that 𝒯\mathcal{T} has maximal diameter.

Remark 5.2.

We consider the unweighted directed multi triforce graph (see Figure 3).

Refer to caption
Figure 3. Directed multi triforce graph

Then we see κ(x,y)=0\kappa(x,y)=0; in particular, it does not have positive Ricci curvature.

5.3. Product and maximal diameter

We consider two simple, strongly connected, finite weighted directed graphs (V,μ)(V,\mu) and (V,μ)(V^{\prime},\mu^{\prime}), and also their (α,β)(\alpha,\beta)-weighted Cartesian product (V,μ)(α,β)(V,μ)(V,\mu)\square_{(\alpha,\beta)}(V^{\prime},\mu^{\prime}). Let us denote by D,DD,\,D^{\prime} and D(α,β)D_{(\alpha,\beta)} the diameter of (V,μ),(V,μ)(V,\mu),\,(V^{\prime},\mu^{\prime}) and (V,μ)(α,β)(V,μ)(V,\mu)\square_{(\alpha,\beta)}(V^{\prime},\mu^{\prime}), respectively. We also denote by Λ,Λ\Lambda,\,\Lambda^{\prime} and Λ(α,β)\Lambda_{(\alpha,\beta)} the value defined as (1.2) of (V,μ),(V,μ)(V,\mu),\,(V^{\prime},\mu^{\prime}) and (V,μ)(α,β)(V,μ)(V,\mu)\square_{(\alpha,\beta)}(V^{\prime},\mu^{\prime}), respectively. Furthermore, We denote by K,KK,\,K^{\prime} and K(α,β)K_{(\alpha,\beta)} the value done by (1.1) of (V,μ),(V,μ)(V,\mu),\,(V^{\prime},\mu^{\prime}) and (V,μ)(α,β)(V,μ)(V,\mu)\square_{(\alpha,\beta)}(V^{\prime},\mu^{\prime}), respectively.

Lemma 5.3.
D(α,β)=D+D,Λ(α,β)=βα+βΛ+αα+βΛ,K(α,β)=min{βα+βK,αα+βK}.D_{(\alpha,\beta)}=D+D^{\prime},\quad\Lambda_{(\alpha,\beta)}=\frac{\beta}{\alpha+\beta}\Lambda+\frac{\alpha}{\alpha+\beta}\Lambda^{\prime},\quad K_{(\alpha,\beta)}=\min\left\{\frac{\beta}{\alpha+\beta}K,\frac{\alpha}{\alpha+\beta}K^{\prime}\right\}.
Proof.

The assertions for DD and Λ\Lambda are immediately derived from (3.4) and (3.5). For KK, Theorem 3.5 implies

K(α,β)\displaystyle K_{(\alpha,\beta)} =min{infxy,xVκ(α,β)((x,x),(y,x)),infxV,xyκ(α,β)((x,x),(x,y))}\displaystyle=\min\left\{\inf_{x\rightarrow y,\,x^{\prime}\in V^{\prime}}\kappa_{(\alpha,\beta)}((x,x^{\prime}),(y,x^{\prime})),\inf_{x\in V,\,x^{\prime}\rightarrow y^{\prime}}\kappa_{(\alpha,\beta)}((x,x^{\prime}),(x,y^{\prime}))\right\}
=min{βα+βinfxyκ(x,y),αα+βinfxyκ(x,y)}=min{βα+βK,αα+βK}.\displaystyle=\min\left\{\frac{\beta}{\alpha+\beta}\inf_{x\rightarrow y}\kappa(x,y),\frac{\alpha}{\alpha+\beta}\inf_{x^{\prime}\rightarrow y^{\prime}}\kappa^{\prime}(x^{\prime},y^{\prime})\right\}=\min\left\{\frac{\beta}{\alpha+\beta}K,\frac{\alpha}{\alpha+\beta}K^{\prime}\right\}.

This proves the lemma. \Box

The following claim together with the observation in Subsections 5.1 and 5.2 enables us to produce new directed graphs having maximal diameter:

Theorem 5.4.

We assume K,K>0K,K^{\prime}>0. Then the following are equivalent:

  1. (1)

    The equality (1.4) holds on (V,μ)(V,\mu) and (V,μ)(V^{\prime},\mu^{\prime}), and αDΛ=βDΛ\alpha D\Lambda^{\prime}=\beta D^{\prime}\Lambda;

  2. (2)

    the equality (1.4) holds on (V,μ)(α,β)(V,μ)(V,\mu)\square_{(\alpha,\beta)}(V^{\prime},\mu^{\prime}).

Proof.

The implication from (1) to (2) is a direct consequence of Lemma 5.3. Let us prove the opposite direction. By virtue of Lemma 5.3, the assumption, and Theorem 1.1,

(5.7) βα+βΛ+αα+βΛD+D=Λ(α,β)D(α,β)=K(α,β)βα+βKβα+βΛD,\frac{\displaystyle\frac{\beta}{\alpha+\beta}\Lambda+\frac{\alpha}{\alpha+\beta}\Lambda^{\prime}}{D+D^{\prime}}=\frac{\Lambda_{(\alpha,\beta)}}{D_{(\alpha,\beta)}}=K_{(\alpha,\beta)}\leq\frac{\beta}{\alpha+\beta}K\leq\frac{\beta}{\alpha+\beta}\frac{\Lambda}{D},

and hence αDΛβDΛ\alpha D\Lambda^{\prime}\leq\beta D^{\prime}\Lambda. Similarly,

(5.8) βα+βΛ+αα+βΛD+D=Λ(α,β)D(α,β)=K(α,β)αα+βKαα+βΛD,\frac{\displaystyle\frac{\beta}{\alpha+\beta}\Lambda+\frac{\alpha}{\alpha+\beta}\Lambda^{\prime}}{D+D^{\prime}}=\frac{\Lambda_{(\alpha,\beta)}}{D_{(\alpha,\beta)}}=K_{(\alpha,\beta)}\leq\frac{\alpha}{\alpha+\beta}K^{\prime}\leq\frac{\alpha}{\alpha+\beta}\frac{\Lambda^{\prime}}{D^{\prime}},

and hence αDΛβDΛ\alpha D\Lambda^{\prime}\geq\beta D^{\prime}\Lambda. It follows that αDΛ=βDΛ\alpha D\Lambda^{\prime}=\beta D^{\prime}\Lambda. Furthermore, the inequalities in (5.7), (5.8) become equalities. Thus we conclude the desired assertion. \Box

Cushing et al. [7] have proved Theorem 5.4 for unweighted, undirected regular graphs (see [7, Theorem 3.2]).

Example 5.5.

For example, for α1,,αm>0\alpha_{1},\dots,\alpha_{m}>0, the Cartesian product

{(𝒦3(α1,α1)𝒦3)(α2,2α2)𝒦3}(α3,3α3)(αm,mαm)𝒦3\{(\mathcal{K}_{3}\square_{(\alpha_{1},\alpha_{1})}\mathcal{K}_{3})\square_{(\alpha_{2},2\alpha_{2})}\mathcal{K}_{3}\}\square_{(\alpha_{3},3\alpha_{3})}\cdots\square_{(\alpha_{m},m\alpha_{m})}\mathcal{K}_{3}

has maximal diameter, whose diameter is 2(m+1)2(m+1), value defined as (1.2) is 33, and value defined as (1.1) is 3/2(m+1)3/2(m+1).

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Professor Takashi Shioya for informing them of [12]. They are also grateful to Doctor Daisuke Kazukawa for his useful comments. The first named author was supported in part by JSPS KAKENHI (19K14532). The first and second named authors were supported in part by JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas “Discrete Geometric Analysis for Materials Design” (17H06460). The third named author was supported in part by JSPS KAKENHI (19K23411).

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