On Wiener index of quadratic line graphs of trees

Dragan Stevanovic
Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, Kuwait University

(joint work with Mohammad Ghebleh and Ali Kanso)

Dragan Stevanovi
c

On Wiener index of quadratic line graphs of trees

Definition & short history

Wiener index W (G ) is the sum of distances

among all pairs of vertices in a connected graph G .
W (G ) =

n
2

average distance in G .

A chemist Harry Wiener showed in 1947 that

it correlates well with the boiling point of paraffins.
Graph theorists started to study it in the late 1970s
as the distance of a graph and the transmission of a graph.

Dragan Stevanovi
c

On Wiener index of quadratic line graphs of trees

Definition & short history (2)

Among graphs, Wiener index may serve as a measure of

connectedness:
W (Kn ) W (G ) < W (G e).
Among trees, Wiener index may serve as a measure of branching:
W (Sn ) W (T ) W (Pn ).
Probably the deepest result on the Wiener index is Fan Chungs
1988 result that
the average distance of G the independence number of G .

Dragan Stevanovi
c

On Wiener index of quadratic line graphs of trees

Iterated line graphs

Proponents of iterated line graphs,

i.e., the sequence G , L(G ), L2 (G ), L3 (G ), . . . ,
claim they can provide insight into
structural complexity of molecular graphs.
Not very convincing, probably just an excuse to publish :)
But a friend asked for help to resolve
recent conjectures involving iterated line graphs
and who does not love resolving conjectures?

Dragan Stevanovi
c

On Wiener index of quadratic line graphs of trees

Two conjectures about trees

Knor & Skrekovski

posed the following conjectures
in Australas. J. Comb. 58 (2014), 119126:
Conjecture 1 There exists a finite set of trees S such that
if W (L2 (T )) = W (T ) then T is homeomorphic to a tree from S.
Conjecture 2 If W (L2 (T )) = W (T ) then
there are infinitely many trees Ti , i N, all homeomorphic to T ,
such that W (L2 (Ti )) = W (Ti ).

Dragan Stevanovi
c

On Wiener index of quadratic line graphs of trees

Previous results for W (Lk (T )) = W (T )

The equation W (L(T )) = W (T ) has no solution among

trees,
due to Buckleys 1981 result: W (L(T )) = W (T ) n2 .

Knor, Macaj, Potocnik and Skrekovski

have shown in a series of
k
papers that the equation W (L (T )) = W (T ) with k 3 has a
solution among trees if and only if k = 3 and T has the form

with
a = 128 + 3j 2 3jk + 3k 2 + j,
b = 128 + 3j 2 3jk + 3k 2 + k,
c = 128 + 3j 2 3jk + 3k 2 + j + k.
Dragan Stevanovi
c

On Wiener index of quadratic line graphs of trees

Open quipus
Conjecture 1 that all solutions of W (L2 (T )) = W (T ) are
homeomorphic to a finite set of trees suggests to look for solutions
among trees having many pendant paths.
One of the simplest such classes of trees are open quipus:

Dragan Stevanovi
c

On Wiener index of quadratic line graphs of trees

Open quipus (2)

Another reason for considering open quipus is the fact that

they are already well-known for their small spectral radius:
Woo and Neumaier proved in 2007 that

a connected graph has spectral radius of adjacency matrix 32 2

if and only if it is an open quipu, a closed quipu or a dagger.
This fact may be totally unrelated to W (L2 (T )) = W (T ),
but it belongs to my main research areaspectral graph theory.

Dragan Stevanovi
c

On Wiener index of quadratic line graphs of trees

Werbung

Academic Press, 2015

(written in June 2014)
ISBN 9780128020685
x+156 p.

Dragan Stevanovi
c

On Wiener index of quadratic line graphs of trees

Probably the ugliest Diophantine equation

The equation W (L2 (Q)) = W (Q)
for an open quipu Q = Q(h1 , . . . , hn ) reduces to:
0 = n3 + 2n2 5n 2
+n

n
X

n
n
X

X
2
2
hi 2
hi
hi + n 2n 4

i=1

+2

n
X

i 2 hi 2(n + 1)

i=1

n
X

i=1

!2

i=1

ihi .

i=1

Probably the ugliest Diophantine equation you have ever seen

(and certainly the ugliest I had to work with!),
but it just happens to also have awful lot of solutions . . .

Dragan Stevanovi
c

On Wiener index of quadratic line graphs of trees

Number of solutions

max hi
n
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

10

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
2
2
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
12
48
5
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
16
98
132
98
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
10
216
707
1 450
999
158
0
0
0
0

0
2
17
297
1 633
7 556
17 440
27 919
2 642
2
0
0

0
0
14
338
2 580
20 038
95 532
448 170
228 851
66 174
2 083
0

0
0
14
325
3 788
40 696
294 414
2 665 731
3 468 250
4 061 286
1 620 565
226 890

0
2
13
582
4 909
63 418
650 410
9 066 164
21 505 840
58 457 568
77 889 905
81 745 409

Dragan Stevanovi
c

On Wiener index of quadratic line graphs of trees

Lots of solutions under restrictions as well

The ugly equation continues to have a lot of solutions
even after you introduce a number of restrictions on the heights hi :
hi {a, b};

Dragan Stevanovi
c

On Wiener index of quadratic line graphs of trees

Lots of solutions under restrictions as well

The ugly equation continues to have a lot of solutions
even after you introduce a number of restrictions on the heights hi :
hi {a, b};
hi {a, a + 1};

Dragan Stevanovi
c

On Wiener index of quadratic line graphs of trees

Lots of solutions under restrictions as well

The ugly equation continues to have a lot of solutions
even after you introduce a number of restrictions on the heights hi :
hi {a, b};
hi {a, a + 1};
hi {a, a + 1} and a = d 32 ne 2;

Dragan Stevanovi
c

On Wiener index of quadratic line graphs of trees

Lots of solutions under restrictions as well

The ugly equation continues to have a lot of solutions
even after you introduce a number of restrictions on the heights hi :
hi {a, b};
hi {a, a + 1};
hi {a, a + 1} and a = d 32 ne 2;

a + 1, for 1 i p and i
/ {x, y , z, w },
hi =
a,
p+1 i n,
with n = 12k + 3, a = 8k and p = 6k + 6.
The last restriction replaces the ugly equation with
70k 2 +47k+35 = (6k+2x)2 +(6k+2y )2 +(6k+2z)2 +(6k+2w )2 .

Dragan Stevanovi
c

On Wiener index of quadratic line graphs of trees

Lagrange does not care to disprove Conjecture 1

The equation
70k 2 +47k+35 = (6k+2x)2 +(6k+2y )2 +(6k+2z)2 +(6k+2w )2
has a solution for every k by Lagranges four square theorem.
But we need x, y , z, w to be distinct numbers in {1, . . . , 6k + 6}.

Dragan Stevanovi
c

On Wiener index of quadratic line graphs of trees

Lagrange does not care to disprove Conjecture 1

The equation
70k 2 +47k+35 = (6k+2x)2 +(6k+2y )2 +(6k+2z)2 +(6k+2w )2
has a solution for every k by Lagranges four square theorem.
But we need x, y , z, w to be distinct numbers in {1, . . . , 6k + 6}.
However,
70k 2 + 47k + 35 = (6k + 1)2 + (5k + 1)2 + (3k + 4)2 + (k + 17),
so that the choice k + 17 = t 2 for each t 5, yields
a quipu Q with 12t 2 201 vertices of degree three
and pendant paths of lengths either 8t 2 136 or 8t 2 135
satisfying W (L2 (Q)) = W (Q).

Dragan Stevanovi
c

On Wiener index of quadratic line graphs of trees

Quartic quipus
We have tried the following quartic quipu variant as well:

Dragan Stevanovi
c

On Wiener index of quadratic line graphs of trees

Quartic quipus (2)

The resulting Diophantine equation is equally ugly,
and it still has tons of solutions, even if you restrict that:
the number of degree four vertices is 2r ,

Dragan Stevanovi
c

On Wiener index of quadratic line graphs of trees

Quartic quipus (2)

The resulting Diophantine equation is equally ugly,
and it still has tons of solutions, even if you restrict that:
the number of degree four vertices is 2r ,
all pendant path lengths in one part are 4r ,

Dragan Stevanovi
c

On Wiener index of quadratic line graphs of trees

Quartic quipus (2)

The resulting Diophantine equation is equally ugly,
and it still has tons of solutions, even if you restrict that:
the number of degree four vertices is 2r ,
all pendant path lengths in one part are 4r ,
while pendant path lengths in the other part are:
4r for i {1, 2, r + 3, . . . , 2r } {x, y }, and
4r + 1 for i {3, . . . , r + 2} \ {x, y },

Dragan Stevanovi
c

On Wiener index of quadratic line graphs of trees

Quartic quipus (2)

The resulting Diophantine equation is equally ugly,
and it still has tons of solutions, even if you restrict that:
the number of degree four vertices is 2r ,
all pendant path lengths in one part are 4r ,
while pendant path lengths in the other part are:
4r for i {1, 2, r + 3, . . . , 2r } {x, y }, and
4r + 1 for i {3, . . . , r + 2} \ {x, y },

and further y =

r +1
2

(r will be odd).

In such restricted case the equation W (L2 (Q)) = W (Q) reduces to

r 2 3(2r + 1 x)2 = 2.

Dragan Stevanovi
c

On Wiener index of quadratic line graphs of trees

Quartic quipus. . . and Legendres equation

With p = 2r + 1 x we get
r 2 3p 2 = 2,
a particular case of the equation that Legendre used
to obtain solutions for the corresponding Pell equation.
The fundamental solution is (r1 , p1 ) = (1, 1),
while further solutions for odd k may be obtained from

(1 + 3)k
.
r k + pk 3 =
k1
2 2

Dragan Stevanovi
c

On Wiener index of quadratic line graphs of trees

Conclusions

Conjecture 1 that all solutions of W (L2 (T )) = W (T ) are

homeomorphic to a finite set of trees is thus disproved.
The abundance of solutions among quipus and quartic quipus
suggests that there is hardly a nice characterization of all solutions.

Dragan Stevanovi
c

On Wiener index of quadratic line graphs of trees

Conclusions (2)

Experience with quipus also gives some support for Conjecture 2

that for each solution of W (L2 (T )) = W (T )
there exist infinitely many other solutions homeomorphic to T .
Initial computational results suggest that
new solutions can be constructed from an existing solution
just by subdiving a handful of its pendant edges.
Most probably, only four of the pendant edges would suffice. . .

Dragan Stevanovi
c

On Wiener index of quadratic line graphs of trees

Thanks.

draganstevanovic.wordpress.com
dragance106@yahoo.com
Dragan Stevanovi
c

On Wiener index of quadratic line graphs of trees