Cospectrality preserving graph modifications and eigenvector properties via walk equivalence of vertices

Abstract: Originating from spectral graph theory, cospectrality is a powerful generalization of exchange symmetry and can be applied to all real-valued symmetric matrices. Two vertices of an undirected graph with real edge weights are cospectral iff the underlying weighted adjacency matrix $M$ fulfills $[M^k]_{u,u} = [M^k]_{v,v}$ for all non-negative integer $k$, and as a result any eigenvector $\phi$ of $M$ has (or, in the presence of degeneracies, can be chosen to have) definite parity on $u$ and $v$. We here show that the powers of a matrix with cospectral vertices induce further local relations on its eigenvectors, and also can be used to design cospectrality preserving modifications. To this end, we introduce the concept of \emph{walk equivalence} of cospectral vertices with respect to \emph{walk multiplets} which are special vertex subsets of a graph. Walk multiplets allow for systematic and flexible modifications of a graph with a given cospectral pair while preserving this cospectrality. The set of modifications includes the addition and removal of both vertices and edges, such that the underlying topology of the graph can be altered. In particular, we prove that any new vertex connected to a walk multiplet by suitable connection weights becomes a so-called unrestricted substitution point (USP), meaning that any arbitrary graph may be connected to it without breaking cospectrality. Also, suitable interconnections between walk multiplets within a graph are shown to preserve the associated cospectrality. Importantly, we demonstrate that the walk equivalence of cospectral vertices $u,v$ imposes a local structure on every eigenvector $\phi$ obeying $\phi_{u} = \pm \phi_{v} \ne 0$ (in the case of degeneracies, a specific choice of the eigenvector basis is needed). Our work paves the way for flexibly exploiting hidden structural symmetries in the design of generic complex network-like systems.