Sharp lower bounds for the Laplacian Estrada index of graphs

Abstract

Let G be a simple graph on n vertices, and let λ 1 , λ 2 , … , λ n be the Laplacian eigenvalues of G. The Laplacian Estrada index of G is defined as LEE ( G ) = ∑ i = 1 n e λ i . Consider a graph G with n ≥ 3 vertices, m edges, c connected components, and the largest Laplacian eigenvalue λ n . Let K n , S n , and K p , q (p + q = n) denote the complete graph, the star graph, and the complete bipartite graph on n vertices, respectively. In this paper, we establish that LEE ( G ) ≥ n e 2 m n + c + e λ n − ( c + 1 ) e λ n c + 1 . Furthermore, we show that the equality holds if and only if G ≅ K ¯ n (the complement of K n ), G ≅ ∪ i = 1 c − 1 K 1 ∪ S c + 1 if n = 2c, or G ≅ K n 2 , n 2 if G is a connected graph on an even number of vertices. As a consequence of this lower bound, we derive sharp lower bounds for the Laplacian Estrada index of a graph, considering its well-known graph parameters. This leads to improvements to some previously known lower bounds for the Laplacian Estrada index of a graph. Notably, we establish a sharp lower bound for the Laplacian Estrada index of a graph in terms of its maximum vertex degree. As an application, we demonstrate that the lower bound for the Laplacian Estrada index presented by Khosravanirad in [A Lower Bound for Laplacian Estrada Index of a Graph, MATCH Commun Math Comput Chem. 2013;70:175–180.] is not complete. Consequently, we provide a complete version of this lower bound.