Molecular graphs and molecular conduction: the d-omni-conductors.

Ernzerhof's source-and-sink-potential (SSP) model for ballistic conduction in conjugated π systems predicts transmission of electrons through a two-wire device in terms of characteristic polynomials of the molecular graph and subgraphs based on the pattern of connections. We present here a complete classification of conduction properties of all molecular graphs within the SSP model. An omni-conductor/omni-insulator is a molecular graph that conducts/insulates at the Fermi level (zero of energy) for all connection patterns.

Near omni-conductors and insulators: Alternant hydrocarbons in the SSP model of ballistic conduction.

Within the source-and-sink-potential model, a complete characterisation is obtained for the conduction behaviour of alternant π-conjugated hydrocarbons (conjugated hydrocarbons without odd cycles). In this model, an omni-conductor has a molecular graph that conducts at the Fermi level irrespective of the choice of connection vertices. Likewise, an omni-insulator is a molecular graph that fails to conduct for any choice of connections.

A Hückel source-sink-potential theory of Pauli spin blockade in molecular electronic devices.

This paper shows how to include Pauli (exclusion principle) effects within a treatment of ballistic molecular conduction that uses the tight-binding Hückel Hamiltonian and the source-sink-potential (SSP) method. We take into account the many-electron ground-state of the molecule and show that we can discuss ballistic conduction for a specific molecular device in terms of four structural polynomials. In the standard one-electron picture, these are characteristic polynomials of vertex-deleted graphs, with spectral representations in terms of molecular-orbital eigenvectors and eigenvalues.

A new approach to the method of source-sink potentials for molecular conduction.

We re-derive the tight-binding source-sink potential (SSP) equations for ballistic conduction through conjugated molecular structures in a form that avoids singularities. This enables derivation of new results for families of molecular devices in terms of eigenvectors and eigenvalues of the adjacency matrix of the molecular graph. In particular, we define the transmission of electrons through individual molecular orbitals (MO) and through MO shells.

Omni-conducting and omni-insulating molecules.

The source and sink potential model is used to predict the existence of omni-conductors (and omni-insulators): molecular conjugated π systems that respectively support ballistic conduction or show insulation at the Fermi level, irrespective of the centres chosen as connections. Distinct, ipso, and strong omni-conductors/omni-insulators show Fermi-level conduction/insulation for all distinct pairs of connections, for all connections via a single centre, and for both, respectively. The class of conduction behaviour depends critically on the number of non-bonding orbitals (NBO) of the molecular system (corresponding to the nullity of the graph).

Balanced Centrality of Networks.

There is an age-old question in all branches of network analysis. What makes an actor in a network important, courted, or sought? Both Crossley and Bonacich contend that rather than its intrinsic wealth or value, an actor's status lies in the structures of its interactions with other actors. Since pairwise relation data in a network can be stored in a two-dimensional array or matrix, graph theory and linear algebra lend themselves as great tools to gauge the centrality (interpreted as importance, power, or popularity, depending on the purpose of the network) of each actor.

Nonbonding orbitals in fullerenes: nuts and cores in singular polyhedral graphs.

A zero eigenvalue in the spectrum of the adjacency matrix of the graph representing an unsaturated carbon framework indicates the presence of a nonbonding pi orbital (NBO). A graph with at least one zero in the spectrum is singular; nonzero entries in the corresponding zero-eigenvalue eigenvector(s) (kernel eigenvectors) identify the core vertices. A nut graph has a single zero in its adjacency spectrum with a corresponding eigenvector for which all vertices lie in the core.