  We prove that a minimal automaton has a minimal adjacency matrix rank and a
minimal adjacency matrix nullity using equitable partition (from graph spectra
theory) and Nerode partition (from automata theory). This result naturally
introduces the notion of matrix rank into a regular language L, the minimal
adjacency matrix rank of a deterministic automaton that recognises L. We then
define and focus on rank-one languages: the class of languages for which the
rank of minimal automaton is one. We also define the expanded canonical
automaton of a rank-one language.
