Ramanujan graphs and Hecke operators

We associate to the Hecke operator Tp , p a prime, acting on a space of theta series an explicit p + 1 regular Ramanujan graph G having large girth. Such graphs have high "magnification" and thus have many applications in the construction of networks and explicit algorithms (see [LPS1] and Bien's survey article [B]). In general our graphs do not seem to have quite as large a girth as the Ramanujan graphs discovered by Lubotzky, Phillips, and Sarnak ([LPS1, LPS3]) and independently by Margulis ([M]). However, by varying the T and the spaces of theta series, we obtain a much larger family of interesting graphs. The trace formula for the action of the Hecke operators Tpr immediately yields information on certain closed walks in G and in particular on the girth of G. If m is not a prime, we obtain "almost Ramanujan" graphs associated to Tm. The results of this paper can be viewed as an explicit version of a generalization of a construction of Ihara (see [I] and Theorem 4.1 of [LPS2]). From this viewpoint the connection between our results and those of Lubotzky, Phillips, and Sarnak becomes clearer. Recently, Chung ([C]) and Li ([L]) also constructed Ramanujan graphs associated to certain abelian groups.