Symmetric Laplacians, quantum density matrices and their Von-Neumann entropy

We show that the (normalized) symmetric Laplacian of a simple graph can be obtained from the partial trace over a pure bipartite quantum state that resides in a bipartite Hilbert space (one part corresponding to the vertices, the other corresponding to the edges). This suggests an interpretation of the symmetric Laplacian's Von Neumann entropy as a measure of bipartite entanglement present between the two parts of the state. We then study extreme values for a connected graph's generalized Rényi-p entropy. Specifically, we show that