Bounds for the Kirchhoff index of bipartite graphs (Q442815)

Summary: A \((m, n)\)-bipartite graph is a bipartite graph such that one bipartition has \(m\) vertices and the other bipartition has \(n\) vertices. The tree dumbbell \(D(n, a, b)\) consists of the path \(P_{n-a-b}\) together with \(a\) independent vertices adjacent to one independent vertex of \(P_{n-a-b}\) and \(b\) independent vertices adjacent to the other pendent vertex of \(P_{n-a-b}\). In this paper, firstly, we show that, among \((m, n)\)-bipartite graphs \((m \leq n)\), the complete bipartite graph \(K_{m,n}\) has minimal Kirchhoff index and the tree dumbbell \(D(m + n, \lfloor n - (m + 1)/2\rfloor, \lceil n - (m + 1)/2 \rceil)\) has maximal Kirchhoff index. Then, we show that, among all bipartite graphs of order \(l\), the complete bipartite graph \(K_{\lfloor l/2 \rfloor, l - \lfloor l/2 \rfloor}\) has minimal Kirchhoff index and the path \(P_l\) has maximal Kirchhoff index, respectively. Finally, bonds for the Kirchhoff index of \((m, n)\)-bipartite graphs and bipartite graphs of order \(l\) are obtained by computing the Kirchhoff index of these extremal graphs.