Maximize the \(Q\)-index of graphs with fixed order and size (Q2237243)

The signless Laplacian matrix of a graph \(G\) is defined as \(Q(G)=D(G)+A(G)\), where \(D(G)\) and \(A(G)\) are respectively the degree diagonal matrix and the adjacency matrix of \(G\). The largest eigenvalue of \(Q(G)\) is the \(Q\)-index of \(G\) and is denoted by \(\sigma (G)\). The authors raise the following two questions. (1) Which graph attains the maximum \(Q\)-index over all graphs of order \(n\) and size \(m=n+k\)? (2) Which graph attains the maximum \(Q\)-index over all \((p,q)\)-bipartite graphs with size \(m=p+q+k\)? They answer the first question for \(4\leq k\leq n- 3\) by showing that the graph \(H_{n,k}\cong K_{1}\triangledown (K_{1, k+1}\cup (n-k-3)K_{1})\) is the unique graph with the maximum \(Q\)-index over all graphs \(\mathbb{G}(n,n+k)\), with \(n\) vertices and \(n+k\) edges. The authors answer the second question for \(-p - q\leq k\leq p- q\). The maximum \(Q\)-index on connected \((p, q)\)-bipartite graphs is also determined for \(-1\leq k\leq p -2\).