MATTER: International Journal of Science and Technology

ISSN 2454-5880

Roshan & Sarasija, 2019

Volume 5 Issue 1, pp. 01-11
Date of Publication: 15th March 2019
DOI-https://dx.doi.org/10.20319/mijst.2019.51.0111
This paper can be cited as: Roshan, S. P. & Sarasija, P. B. (2019). Mınımum Coverıng Gutman Energy of
a Graph. MATTER: International Journal of Science and Technology, 5(1), 01-11.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International
License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ or send a
letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA.

MINIMUM COVERING GUTMAN ENERGY OF A GRAPH

Roshan Sara Philipose

Research Scholar, Noorul Islam University, Kumaracoil, Tamil Nadu, India
roshanjilu@gmail.com

Sarasija P.B
Professor, Noorul Islam University, Kumaracoil, Tamil Nadu, India
sijavk@gmail.com

Abstract
The concept of a new kind of graph energy, namely, minimum covering energy, denoted by
Ec(G), was introduced by Chandrashekar Adiga et.al in 2012. The Gutman energy is the sum of
the absolute values of the eigenvalues obtained from the Gutman matrix. In this paper, we depict
the minimum covering Gutman energy of a graph which can be defined as sum of the absolute
values of the minimum covering Gutman eigenvalues obtained from the minimum covering
1, if i  j & vi  C '

Gutman matrix of a graph, Ac ' g (G ) : ( g ij ) , where g ij  0, if i  j & vi  C ' . Here, d i
d d d (v , v ), otherwise
 i j G i j
is the degree of the node v i , d G vi , v j  is the shortest distance between the nodes v i & v j and C '

is the minimum covering set. Further, we establish the upper and lower bounds for minimum
covering Gutman energy.
Keywords
Minimum Covering Gutman Energy, Minimum Covering Gutman Matrix, Minimum Covering
Set, Upper Bound

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MATTER: International Journal of Science and Technology
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1. Introduction
Throughout the paper, we take account of a simple connected graph G with node set V
containing q nodes and edge set E containing p edges. For the detailed study of graphs and
matrices, view (Bapat, 2011). Since we aim at determining the minimum covering Gutman
energy of a graph, we should need a brief analysis on minimum covering Gutman matrix.
To start with, let v1 , v2 , , vq be the nodes of G. A covering set C ' of G can be defined

as a subset of V in which atleast one node of C ' must be incident with every edge of G and any
covering set with minimum cadinality is termed as minimum covering set.
Now, we define the minimum covering Gutman Matrix
1, if i  j & vi  C '

Ac ' g (G ) : ( g ij ) , g ij  0, if i  j & vi  C ' , where d i , d j and d G vi , v j  denote
d d d (v , v ), otherwise
 i j G i j
the degree of node v i , degree of node v j and the shortest distance between the nodes v i and v j

respectively. Note that we shall take here. Refer both references (Roshan et al., 2018) for the
detailed study of illustration of Gutman index and Gutman matrix. Then the minimum covering
Gutman eigenvalues are the eigenvalues 1,2 ,,q obtained from the characteristic

 
polynomial, pq (G, )  det I  AC 'g (G ) . Obviously, they are real as AC 'g (G) is real, symmetric

and they are labeled in non-increasing order 1  2    q . So, the minimum covering

Gutman energy, denoted by GEC ' G  , is the sum of the absolute values of the minimum covering
q
Gutman eigenvalues. i.e., GEC ' G    i . See (Gutman et al., 1978, Balakrishnan, 2004) for
i 1

the study of energy of graphs and (Adiga et al., 2012) for minimum covering energy of graphs
Rajesh Kanna et.al determined minimum covering distance energy of a graph that
motivates us to mould this paper with the ideas of minimum covering Gutman energy of a graph
(Rajesh Kanna et al., 2013). We have sectioned this paper into four. Following by introduction
in section 1, we are trying to convince the method of determining minimum covering set and
thus finding the minimum covering Gutman energy through an example in section 2. In section
3, we are finding the minimum covering Gutman energy of some standard graphs – Cocktail

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MATTER: International Journal of Science and Technology
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party graph, Star graph and Crown graph. Finally in section 4, we are trying to establish some
bounds of minimum covering Gutman energy of a graph.
2. Example of finding Minimum Covering Gutman Energy of a given Graph
2.1 Example:

G:

Solution: The possible minimum covering sets are i C1   v1 , v2 , v5 , ii C2   v2 , v4 , v5  and
' '

iiiC3'  v1, v3 , v5 .
Now, we can find out the corresponding minimum covering Gutman matrix,
characteristic equation, minimum covering Gutman eigenvalues and minimum covering Gutman
'
energy for C1 .

 1 9 12 6 15 6 
 
 9 1 6 12 15 6 
12 6 0 8 10 4 
i  AC1' g (G)   .
 6 12 8 0 10 4 
15 15 10 10 1 5 
 
 6 6 4 4 5 0
 
Characteristic equation is
 6  3 5  1281.00153 4  24446.05546 3  167352.7414 2  441244.116  388309.6854  0
Therefore, minimum covering Gutman eigenvalues are 1  16.3417 , 2  14 , 3  7.2977,

4  2.5721, 5  2 and 6  45.2115 . Consequently, the minimum covering Gutman energy

6
of the given graph G, GEC (G ) = | i |  87.423 .
'
1
i 1

'
Similarly, we can find the minimum covering Gutman energy corresponding to C2 and
'
C3 . Notice that the minimum covering Gutman energy is depending on the covering set.

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MATTER: International Journal of Science and Technology
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3. Minimum Covering Gutman Energy of some particular graphs

In this section, we shall consider some standard graphs and discuss their minimum
covering Gutman energy.
3.1 Cocktail Party Graph
Definition 3.1.1: The Cocktail Party Graph ( K q 2 ) is a graph with node set V containing the

union of u i , vi  , where i  1,2, , q and edge set E containing the union of ui u j , vi v j ; i  j and

u v ; 1  i  j  q .
i j

Theorem 3.1.1: The minimum covering Gutman energy of Cocktail party graph Kq  2 is

16qq  1 .
2

q
Proof: We have the Cocktail Party Graph Kq  2 with node set V   ui , vi  and edge set
i 1

E  uiu j , vi v j ; i  j  ui v j , viu j ; 1  i  j  q . Here, the minimum covering set is

q 1
C '   ui , vi  . Then the minimum covering Gutman matrix is given by AC ' g ( K q  2 ) 
i 1

 1 8(q  1) 2 4(q  1) 2 4(q  1) 2  4(q  1) 2 4(q  1) 2 4(q  1) 2 4(q  1) 2 

 
 8(q  1) 2 1 4(q  1) 2 4(q  1) 2  4(q  1) 2 4(q  1) 2 4(q  1) 2 4(q  1) 2 
 4(q  1) 2 4(q  1) 2 1 8(q  1) 2  4(q  1) 2 4(q  1) 2 4(q  1) 2 4(q  1) 2 

 4(q  1) 2 4(q  1) 2 8(q  1) 2 1  4(q  1) 2 4(q  1) 2 4(q  1) 2 4(q  1) 2 
 
          
 4(q  1) 2 4(q  1) 2 4(q  1) 2 4(q  1) 2  1 8(q  1) 2 4(q  1) 2 4(q  1) 2 
 
 4(q  1) 4(q  1) 2 4(q  1) 2 4(q  1) 2 8(q  1) 2 4(q  1) 2 4(q  1) 2 
2
 1
 4(q  1) 2 4(q  1) 2 4(q  1) 2 4(q  1) 2  4(q  1) 2 4(q  1) 2 0 8(q  1) 2 
 
 4(q  1) 4(q  1) 2 4(q  1) 2 4(q  1) 2 4(q  1) 2 4(q  1) 2 8(q  1) 2
2
 0 
Therefore, the characteristic equation is
  8q 1   8q 1 1
2 2 q1
 1q2  2  8qq 12  1  8q 12   0 .
So the minimum covering Gutman eigenvalues are
  8(q  1) 2 (one time),   8(q  1) 2  1 ( q  1 times),   1 ( q  2 times) and


8qq 1  1 8qq 1  1  32q 1
2 2 2 2

(one time each).

2

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MATTER: International Journal of Science and Technology
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
Thus the minimum covering Gutman energy is given by GEC' K q  2 =  8q  1 +
2


 8q  1  1q  1 + 1q  2 

2 8qq  1  1 8qq  1  1  32q  1
2 2 2 2

 
= 8q 12  8q 12 1 q 1  q  2  8qq 12  1

= 16qq 12
3.2 Star Graph
A star graph is the complete bipartite graph K1, q1 .

Theorem 3.2.1: The minimum covering Gutman energy of star graph K1, q1 is

2q  2  4q3  8q 2  8q  21 , q  3 .

Proof: Let v0 , v1,, vq1 be the nodes of K1, q1 and C '  v0  be the minimum covering set. Its

minimum covering Gutman matrix is given by

 1 q 1 q 1  q  1 q  1 q  1
 
 q 1 0 2  2 2 2 
 q 1 2 0  2 2 2 
 
AC 'g K1,q1           , q  3.
 q 1 2 2  0 2 2 

 q 1 2 2  2 0 2 
 
 q 1 2 2  2 2 0 

Then for q  3 , its characteristic equation is   2q2  2  2q  3  q3  3q 2  q  3  0 . So,

the minimum covering Gutman eigenvalues are   2 ( q  2 times) and

(2q  3)  2q  32  4q3  3q 2  q  3

 (one time each). Hence its minimum covering
2
Gutman energy is given by

(2q  3)  2q  32  4q3  3q 2  q  3

GEC ' ( K1, q1 )   2(q  2) 
2

= 2(q  2)  2q  32  4q 3  3q 2  q  3

= 2(q  2)  4q 3  8q 2  8q  21 .

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MATTER: International Journal of Science and Technology
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3.3 Crown Graph

Definition 3.3.1: For an integer q  2 , a Crown graph, denoted by S q0 , is a graph with two sets of


nodes ui ; 1  i  q ,
'
 v ; 1  j  q  and form an edge from u
j
'
i
'
to v j when i  j .
'

Theorem 3.3.1: The minimum covering Gutman energy of a Crown graph ( S q0 , q  2 ) is


4.472, for q  2

2 257  1601, for q  3

 2q  3 2q  1  8q  1 q  1  4q  1  1 ,

2 2 2


3
  for q  4

 ' ' '

Proof: Let u1 , u2 ,, uq , v1 , v2 ,, vq  be the node set and u v ;1  i, j  q, i  j be the edge
' ' '
i
'
j
'

, q  2 . Also, let C  u , u ., u  be the minimum covering set.

' ' ' '
set of S q0 1 2 q

Then its minimum covering Gutman matrix is given by AC'g Sq0  

 1 2q  1 2q  1 2q  1 3q  1 q  12 q  12 q  12 

2 2 2 2
 
 
 2q  12 1 2q  1
2
 2q  1
2
q  12 3q  1
2
q  12  q  12 
 
 2q  1 2q  1 2q  1 q  12 q  12 3q  1 q  12
2 2 2 2
1   
           
 2
 2q  1 2q  1 2q  1 q  12 q  12 q  12 3q  1 
2 2 2
 1 
 3q  12 q  12 q  12  q  12 0 2q  1
2
2q  1
2
 2q  1 
2

 
 q  1 3q  1 q  12 q  12 2q  1 2q  1 2q  1 
2 2 2 2 2
 0 
 q  12 q  12 3q  1
2
 q  12 2q  1
2
2q  1
2
0  2q  1 
2
 
           
 
 q  1 q  12 q  12 3q  1 2q  1 2q  1 2q  1
2 2 2 2 2
  0 

We can write its characteristic equation as follows:

 2
 2q  32q  1  2q  1
2
   4q  1  1  q  1 3qq  1q  4  2  0 , q  3
q 1 2 3 3

So, the corresponding eigenvalues obtaining are

 2q  32q  1  2q  32 2q  12  8q  12

 (q-1 times each) and
2


4q 1  1 4q 1  1  4q 1 3qq 1q  4  2 (one time each)
3 3 2 3

.
2

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MATTER: International Journal of Science and Technology
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Hence the minimum covering Gutman energy of S q0 , q  4 , is given by

  2q  32q  1  2q  32 2q  12  8q  12 

GEC ' S  
0
q  
 2 
(q  1) +
 

4q  1  1 4q  1  1  4q  1 3qq  1q  4  2

3 3 2 3

=  2q  32 2q  12  8q  12 q  1  4q  13  1 .

 
 
In particular, GEC ' S20  0.6180 2  1.6180 2  4.472

and GEC ' S30     15  32  2 

2
332  512  2 257  1601 .

4. Bounds for Minimum Covering Gutman Energy

In this section, we will discuss the bounds of minimum covering Gutman energy. To
study the upper bounds of energy of graphs, refer (Liu, 2007). The following lemma is a property
of minimum covering Gutman eigenvalues.
Lemma 4.1: For a simple connected graph G with q nodes and p edges and let
C '  u1 , u2 ,, ur  be the covering set, if 1 ,2 ,...,q are the minimum covering Gutman

eigenvalues obtained from the minimum covering Gutman matrix AC 'g (G ) , then

 d d d 
q q

 i 1
i C '
and 
i 1
i
2
 C'  2
1 i  j  q
i j ij
2
(1)

Proof: We have a simple connected (q, p)-graph G. It is well known that the absolute sum of
eigenvalues of AC 'g (G ) is its trace and sum of squares of eigenvalues of AC 'g (G ) is the trace of

its square.

 
q q

i  trace AC (G)   di dii  C '

2
That is, '
g
i 1 i 1

 
2

Also,  i  trace AC (G )   (d i d j d ij ) 2   d i (d ii ) 2   d i d j d ij 
q q q q
2 2 2
'
g
i 1 i 1 j 1 i 1 i j

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MATTER: International Journal of Science and Technology
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 d d d 
q
This implies 
i 1
i
2
 C'  2
1 i  j  q
i j ij
2
.

Theorem 4.1: For a connected (q, p)-graph with GEC ' G  as minimum covering Gutman

 
energy, C'  2  (d d d i j ij ) 2  GEC ' (G)  q C '  2  (di d j dij ) 2  ,
1i j q  1i j q 

where C ' is the cardinality of minimum covering set C’ of G.

Proof: We have a connected (q, p)-graph G with minimum covering Gutman energy GEC ' G  .

Also, let C’ be the minimum covering set of G .

Claim 1: To obtain the upper bound.
2
 q   q 2  q 2 
Consider Cauchy-Schwartz inequality   xi yi     xi   yi  .
 i1   i1  i1 
Take xi  1 and yi  i .
2
 q 
2
 q  q q 2 q
Consequently,   i   1 i . This exactly gives   i   q i 2 .
 i1  i 1 i 1  i 1  i 1

   
 
Hence GEC ' G   q C '  2  (d i d j d ij ) 2   GEC ' (G)  q C '  2  (di d j dij ) 2 
2
(2)
 1i j q   1i j q 
Claim 2: To obtain the lower bound
2
 q 
    i  C '  2  di d j dij  .
q
However, GEC ' G     i
2 2 2

 i1  i 1 1i j q

So, GEC ' G   C'  2  d d d 

2
i j ij (3)
1i j q

Combining (2) and (3) gives the result.

Corollary 4.1: For a connected (q, p) graph, we have GEC ' G   C '  2q q  1, q  2 .

q q  1
Proof: Obviously, di d j dij  1 ,  i  j . Since there are pairs of nodes in G, it is clear
2

from (3) of theorem 4.1 that GEC ' G   C'  2  d d d 

2
i j ij
1i j q

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MATTER: International Journal of Science and Technology
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qq  1
 C'  2 = C '  qq  1, q  2 .
2
Theorem 4.2: For a simple connected (q, p) graph G with  as the absolute value of the
determinant of the minimum covering Gutman matrix AC ' g G  . Then

C'  2  d d d   qq  12 q  GEC ' G   C '  2q  d d d 

2 2
i j ij i j ij , where C' is the
1i j q 1i j q

cardinality of minimum covering set C’ of G.

Proof: From the definition of minimum covering Gutman energy of graph and lemma 4.1,

GE G     d d d     
q q
 i  2    C'  2
2 2 2 2
C' i i j i j ij i j .
i 1 i 1 1i j q 1i j q i j

The arithmetic mean is greater than or equal to the geometric mean, for non-negative numbers.
2  q 1 1 q  q 1
 q 
 
2q
1 1 q  q 1  q 
Therefore,  i  j  
qq  1 i j
i  j   i

 i1


   i   2 q .
i j    i1 

That is,   i j  qq  12 q .

i j


Hence GEC' G   C '  2 
2
 d d d  i j ij
2
 qq  12 q . (4)
1i j q

Taking the square root of (4) and combining with the upper bound of theorem 4.1 gives the
result.
Theorem 4.3: For a connected (q, p) graph G with minimum covering set C’ and GEC ' G  as

mimimum covering Gutman energy, then

 d d d    C '  2  d i d j dij 2  
2
C'  2
2
i j ij   
GEC ' G   1i j q
 q  1 C '  2  di d j dij    1i j q
 
2

q  1i j q  q  
   

,1,,1) and (2 , 3 ,, n ) ,
Proof: Applying Cauchy-Schwartz inequality to vectors (1
    
 q 1 q1

2
 q  q
  i   q  1i
2
we obtain
 i 2  i 2

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MATTER: International Journal of Science and Technology
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GE G      q  1 C '  2  d d d 

C' 1
2
i j ij
2 2
 1 
 1i j q 

 
GEC ' G   1  q  1 C '  2  di d j dij 2 12  (5)
 1i j q 

 
Now, define a function f x   x  q  1 C '  2  di d j dij 2 12  (6)
 1i j q 
We set 1  x for 1  1

 d d d   d d d 
n
Taking square, x 2  1  12  C '  2 . This implies x  C'  2
2 2 2
i j ij i j ij .
i 1 1i j q 1i  j q

C'  2  d d d 
2
i j ij

Again, taking the derivative f x   0 gives x  1i j q

.
q

This gives a decreasing function f x  in the interval

C'  2  d d d 
2
i j ij
1i j q
x C'  2  d d d 
2
i j ij
q 1i j q

C'  2  d d d  C'  2  d d d 
2 2
i j ij i j ij
1 i  j  q 1 i  j  q
and   1 .
q q

 C '  2  d i d j d ij 2 
 
Therefore, f 1   f  1i j q
 and our result follows.
 q 
 

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