The multiplicity of the second-largest eigenvalue of the, is the number of times of the second-largest eigenvalue of A G ( ) appears. In 2019, Jiang, Tidor, Yao, Zhang, and Zhao gave an upper bound on m λ G
We call a graph
G $G$ a
k $k$‐threshold graph if there are
k $k$ distinct real numbers
θ
1
,
θ
2
,
…
,
θ
k ${\theta }_{1},{\theta }_{2},\ldots ,{\theta }_{k}$ and a mapping
r
:
V
(
G
)
→
double-struckR $r:V(G)\to {\mathbb{R}}$ such that for any two vertices
u
,
v
∈
V
(
G
) $u,v\in V(G)$, we have that
u
v
∈
E
(
G
) $uv\in E(G)$ if and only if there are odd numbers
θ
i ${\theta }_{i}$ such that
θ
i
≤
r
(
u
)
+
r
(
v
) ${\theta }_{i}\le r(u)+r(v)$. The least integer
k $k$ such that
G $G$ is a
k $k$‐threshold graph is called a threshold number of
G $G$, and denoted by
normalΘ
(
G
) ${\rm{\Theta }}(G)$. The well‐known family of threshold graphs is a set of graphs
G $G$ with
normalΘ
(
G
)
≤
1 ${\rm{\Theta }}(G)\le 1$. Jamison and Sprague introduced the concept of
k $k$‐threshold graph, and proved that
normalΘ
(
G
) ${\rm{\Theta }}(G)$ exists for every graph
G $G$. They further obtained a number of interesting results on
normalΘ
(
G
) ${\rm{\Theta }}(G)$. In addition, they also proposed several unsolved problems and conjectures, including the following two.
Problem: Determine the exact threshold numbers of the complete multipartite graphs.
Conjecture: For all even
n
≥
2 $n\ge 2$, there is a graph
G $G$ with
normalΘ
(
G
)
=
n ${\rm{\Theta }}(G)=n$ and
normalΘ
(
G
c
)
=
n
+
1 ${\rm{\Theta }}({G}^{c})=n+1$. This is equivalent to that for all odd
n
≥
3 $n\ge 3$, there is a graph
G $G$ with
normalΘ
(
G
)
=
n ${\rm{\Theta }}(G)=n$ and
normalΘ
(
G
c
)
=
n
−
1 ${\rm{\Theta }}({G}^{c})=n-1$, where
G
c ${G}^{c}$ is the complement of
G $G$.In this short paper, we give a partial solution of the problem and confirm the conjecture.
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