Extremal Trees for Logarithmic VDB Topological Indices

Vertex-degree-based (VDB) topological indices have been applied in the study of molecular structures and chemical properties. At present, the exponential VDB index has been studied extensively. Naturally, we began to consider the logarithmic VDB index lnTf. In this paper, we first discuss the necessity of a logarithmic VDB index, and then present sufficient conditions so that Pn and Sn are the only trees with the smallest and greatest values of lnTf(T). As applications, the minimal and maximal trees of some logarithmic VDB indices are determined. Through our work, we found that the logarithmic VDB index lnTf has excellent discriminability, but the relevant results are not completely opposite to the exponential VDB index. The study of logarithmic VDB indices is an interesting but difficult task that requires further resolution.