Moments of the inverse participation ratio for the Laplacian on finite regular graphs

Abstract: We investigate the first and second moments of the inverse participation ratio (IPR) for all eigenvectors of the Laplacian on finite random regular graphs with $n$ vertices and degree $z$. By exactly diagonalizing a large set of $z$-regular graphs, we find that as $n$ becomes large, the mean of the inverse participation ratio on each graph, when averaged over a large ensemble of graphs, approaches the numerical value $3$. This universal number is understood as the large-$n$ limit of the average of the quartic polynomial corresponding to the IPR over an appropriate $(n-2)$-dimensional hypersphere of $\mathbb{R}^n$. For a large, but not exhaustive ensemble of graphs, the mean variance of the inverse participation ratio for all graph Laplacian eigenvectors deviates from its continuous hypersphere average due to large graph-to-graph fluctuations that arise from the existence of highly localized modes.