Trees of extremal connectivity index (Q2581562)

Let \(d(x)\) denote the degree of node \(x\) in a graph \(G\) and let \(\alpha\) be a non-zero constant. The connectivity index, or Randić index, \(w_\alpha(G)\) of a graph \(G\) is the sum of \((d(u)d(v))^\alpha\) over all edges \(uv\) of \(G\). Let \(T\) be a tree with \(n\) nodes and \(k\) end-nodes. The authors give sharp upper and lower bounds for \(w_\alpha(T)\) when \(\alpha = 1\); and a sharp lower bound and an upper bound when \(-1 \leq\alpha < 0\).