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 Stevanovic 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 .
n


W (G ) = 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 Stevanovic 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 Stevanovic 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 Stevanovic 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 Stevanovic 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

papers that the equation W (Lk (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 Stevanovic 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 Stevanovic 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 Stevanovic On Wiener index of quadratic line graphs of trees

Werbung

Academic Press, 2015

(written in June 2014)

ISBN 9780128020685

x+156 p.

Dragan Stevanovic 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 n
!2
X
X X
2 2
+n hi + n 2n 4 hi 2 hi
i=1 i=1 i=1
n
X n
X
+2 i 2 hi 2(n + 1) ihi .
i=1 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 Stevanovic On Wiener index of quadratic line graphs of trees

Number of solutions

max hi
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
n
3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
4 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 2
5 0 2 12 16 10 17 14 14 13
6 0 2 48 98 216 297 338 325 582
7 0 0 5 132 707 1 633 2 580 3 788 4 909
8 0 0 0 98 1 450 7 556 20 038 40 696 63 418
9 0 0 0 0 999 17 440 95 532 294 414 650 410
10 0 0 0 0 158 27 919 448 170 2 665 731 9 066 164
11 0 0 0 0 0 2 642 228 851 3 468 250 21 505 840
12 0 0 0 0 0 2 66 174 4 061 286 58 457 568
13 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 083 1 620 565 77 889 905
14 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 226 890 81 745 409

Dragan Stevanovic 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 Stevanovic 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 Stevanovic 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 Stevanovic 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 Stevanovic 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 Stevanovic 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 Stevanovic On Wiener index of quadratic line graphs of trees

Quartic quipus

We have tried the following quartic quipu variant as well:

Dragan Stevanovic 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 Stevanovic 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 Stevanovic 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 Stevanovic 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 },
r +1
and further y = 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 Stevanovic 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 Stevanovic 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 Stevanovic 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 Stevanovic On Wiener index of quadratic line graphs of trees

 Thanks.

draganstevanovic.wordpress.com
dragance106@yahoo.com

Dragan Stevanovic On Wiener index of quadratic line graphs of trees