On eigenvalues of Seidel matrices and Haemers’ conjecture

For a graph G, let S(G) be the Seidel matrix of G and \({\theta }_1(G),\ldots ,{\theta }_n(G)\) be the eigenvalues of S(G). The Seidel energy of G is defined as \(|{\theta }_1(G)|+\cdots +|{\theta }_n(G)|\). Willem Haemers conjectured that the Seidel energy of any graph with n vertices is at least \(2n-2\), the Seidel energy of the complete graph with n vertices. Motivated by this conjecture, we prove that for any \(\alpha \) with \(0<\alpha <2,|{\theta }_1(G)|^\alpha +\cdots +|{\theta }_n(G)|^\alpha \geqslant (n-1)^\alpha +n-1\) if and only if \(|\hbox {det}\,S(G)|\geqslant n-1\). This, in particular, implies the Haemers’ conjecture for all graphs G with \(|\hbox {det}\,S(G)|\geqslant n-1\). A computation on the fraction of graphs with \(|\hbox {det}\,S(G)|<n-1\) is reported. Motivated by that, we conjecture that almost all graphs G of order n satisfy \(|\hbox {det}\,S(G)|\geqslant n-1\). In connection with this conjecture, we note that almost all graphs of order n have a Seidel energy of order \(\Theta (n^{3/2})\). Finally, we prove that self-complementary graphs G of order \(n\equiv 1\pmod 4\) have \(\det S(G)=0\).