Spectral extremal problem for the odd prism

Abstract: The spectral Tur\'an number $\spex(n, F)$ denotes the maximum spectral radius $\rho(G)$ of an $F$-free graph $G$ of order $n$. This paper determines $\spex\left(n, C_{2k+1}^{\square}\right)$ for all sufficiently large $n$, establishing the unique extremal graph. Here, $C_{2k+1}^{\square}$ is the odd prism -- the Cartesian product $C_{2k+1} \square K_2$ -- where the Cartesian product $G \square F$ has vertex set $V(G) \times V(F)$, and edges between $(u_1,v_1)$ and $(u_2,v_2)$ if either $u_1 = u_2$ and $v_1v_2 \in E(F)$, or ($v_1 = v_2$ and $u_1u_2 \in E(G)$).