The spectral radius of a graph is the largest eigenvalue of the adjacency matrix of the graph. Let T(n,D
l) be the tree which minimizes the spectral radius of all trees of order n with exactly l vertices of maximum degree D
. In this paper, T(n,D
l) is determined for D=3, and for l<= 3 and n large enough. It is proven that for sufficiently large n, T(n, 3, l) is a caterpillar with (almost) uniformly distributed legs, T(n,D
2) is a dumbbell, and T(n,
D,3) is a tree consisting of three distinct stars of order D
connected by three disjoint paths of (almost) equal length from their centers to a common vertex. The unique tree with the largest spectral radius among all such trees is also determined. These extend earlier results of Lov´asz and Pelik´an, Simi´c and To˘si´c, Wu, Yuan and Xiao, and Xu, Lin and Shu.

Let G=(V,E) be a locally finite graph. Firstly, using calculus of variations, including a direct method of variation and the mountain-pass theory, we get sequences of solutions to several local equations on G (the Schrödinger equation, the mean field equation, and the Yamabe equation). Secondly, we derive uniform estimates for those local solution sequences. Finally, we obtain global solutions by extracting convergent sequence of solutions. Our method can be described as a variational method from local to global.

Let $f(n)$ be the maximum number of edges in a graph on $n$ vertices in which no two cycles have the same length. In 1975, Erdos raised the problem of determining $f(n)$ (see J.A. Bondy and U.S.R. Murty, Graph Theory with Applications (Macmillan, New York, 1976), p.247, Problem 11). Given a graph $H$, what is the maximum number of edges of a graph with $n$ vertices not containing $H$ as a subgraph? This number is denoted $ex(n,H)$, and is known as the Turan number. Erdos conjectured that there exists a positive constant $c$ such that $ex(n,C_{2k})\geq cn^{1+1/k}$(see P. Erdos, Some unsolved problems in graph theory and combinatorial analysis, Combinatorial Mathematics and its Applications (Proc. Conf., Oxford, 1969) , pp. 97--109, Academic Press, London, 1971). Haj\'{o}s conjectured that every simple even graph on $n$ vertices can be decomposed into at most $n/2$ cycles (see L. Lovasz, On covering of graphs, in: P. Erdos, G.O.H. Katona (Eds.), Theory of Graphs, Academic Press, New York, 1968, pp. 231 - 236 ). We present the problems, conjectures related to these problems and we summarize the know results.

No abstract uploaded!

It is known that finitely generated FI-modules over a field of characteristic 0 are Noetherian. We generalize this result to the abstract setting of an infinite EI category satisfying certain combinatorial conditions.