1. Introduction
Study on energy of graphs goes back to the year 1978, when I. Gutman [2] defined this while working with energies of conjugated hydrocarbon containing carbon atoms. All graphs considered in this paper are assumed to be simple without loops and multiple edges. Let
be the adjacency matrix of the graph
with its eigenvalues
assumed in decreasing order. Since A is real symmetric, the eigenvalues of G are real numbers whose sum equal to zero. The sum of the absolute eigenvalues values of G is called the energy
of G. i.e.,

1.1. Randić Energy
It was in the year 1975, Milan Randić invented a molecular structure descriptor called Randić index which is defined as [11]

Motivated by this S.B. Bozkurt et al. [1] defined Randić matrix and Randić energy as follows. Let
be graph of order n with vertex set
and edge set E. Randić matrix of
is a
symmetric matrix defined by
, where

The characteristic equation of
is defined by
. The roots of this equation is called Randić eigenvalues of G. Since
is real and symmetric, its eigenvalues are real numbers and we label them in decreasing order
. Randić energy of G is defined as
![]()
1.2. Minimum Covering Energy
In the year 2012 C Adiga et al. [15] introduced minimum covering energy of a graph, which depends on its particular minimum cover. A subset C of vertex set V is called a covering set of G if every edge of G is incident to at least one vertex of C. Any covering set with minimum cardinality is called a minimum covering set. If C is a minimum covering set of a graph G then the minimum covering matrix of G is the
matrix defined by
, where
![]()
The minimum covering eigenvalues of the graph G are roots of the characteristic equation
, obtained from the matrix
. Since
is real and symmetric, its eigenvalues are real numbers and we label them in the order
. The minimum covering energy of G is defined as ![]()
1.3. Minimum Covering Randić Energy
Results on Randić energy and minimum covering energy of graph G motivates us to define minimum covering Randić energy. Consider a graph G with vertex set
and edge set E. If C is a minimum covering set of a graph G then the minimum covering Randić matrix of G is the
matrix defined by
,
where
![]()
The characteristic polynomial of
is defined by
. The minimum covering Randić eigenvalues of the graph G are the eigenvalues of
. Since
is real and symmetric matrix so its eigenvalues are real numbers. We label the eigenvalues in order
. The minimum covering Randić energy of G is defined as ![]()
Example 1: i)
ii)
are the possible minimum cove- ring sets for the Figure 1 as shown below.
i) ![]()
Minimum covering Randić eigenvalues are
![]()
Minimum covering Randić energy, ![]()
![]()
Figure 1. Minimum covering Randić energy depends on the covering set.
ii) ![]()
Minimum covering Randić eigenvalues are
.
Minimum covering Randić energy, ![]()
Therefore minimum covering Randić energy depends on the covering set.
2. Main Results and Discussion
2.1. Minimum Covering Randić Energy of Some Standard Graphs
Theorem 2.1 For
, the minimum covering Randić energy,
of complete graph
is ![]()
Proof. Let
be a complete graph with vertex set
. The mini- mum covering set for
is
. Then
![]()
Characteristic polynomial is ![]()
Characteristic equation is ![]()
Minimum covering Randić Spec
![]()
Minimum covering Randić energy,
![]()
Definition 2.1 Thorn graph of
is denoted by
and it is obtained by attaching one edge to each vertex of
.
Theorem 2.2 For
, the minimum covering Randić energy,
of thorn
graph
is ![]()
Proof.
is a thorn graph of complete graph
with vertex set
. The minimum covering set for thorn graph
is
. Then
![]()
Characteristic polynomial is
.
Characteristic equation is ![]()
Minimum covering Randić Spec
![]()
Minimum covering Randić energy is,
![]()
Definition 2.2 Cocktail party graph is denoted by
, is a graph having the vertex set
and the edge set
.
Theorem 2.3 The minimum covering Randić energy,
of cocktail party graph
is ![]()
Proof. Consider cocktail party graph
with vertex set
. The mi- nimum covering set of cocktail party graph
is
. Then
![]()
Characteristic polynomial is,
.
Characteristic equation is,
.
Minimum covering Randić Spec
![]()
Minimum covering Randić energy,
![]()
Theorem 2.4 For
, minimum covering Randić energy,
of star graph
is equal to
.
Proof. Let
be a star graph with vertex set
. Then its Minimum covering set is
.
![]()
Characteristic equation is ![]()
Minimum covering Randić Spec
![]()
Minimum covering Randić energy,
![]()
Definition 2.3 Crown graph
for an integer
is the graph with vertex set
and edge set
.
Theorem 2.5 For
, minimum covering Randić energy,
of the crown graph
is equal to
.
Proof. For the crown graph
with vertex set
, mi- nimum covering set of crown graph
is
. Then
![]()
Characteristic polynomial is
.
Characteristic equation is
![]()
Minimum covering Randić Spec
![]()
Minimum covering Randić energy,
![]()
Theorem 2.6 The minimum covering Randić energy,
of the complete bipa- rtite graph
is equal to
.
Proof. For the complete bipartite graph
with vertex set
, minimum covering set is
. Then
![]()
Characteristic equation is
![]()
Minimum covering Randić Spec
![]()
Minimum covering Randić energy,
![]()
Definition 2.4 Friendship graph is the graph obtained by taking n copies of the cycle graph
with a vertex in common. It is denoted by
. Friendship graph
con- tains
vertices and
edges.
Theorem 2.7 The minimum covering Randić energy,
of friendship graph
is equal to
.
Proof. For a friendship graph
with vertex set
, minimum covering set is
. Then
![]()
Characteristic equation is
.
Minimum covering Randić Spec
![]()
Minimum covering Randić energy,
![]()
2.2. Properties of Minimum Covering Randić Eigenvalues
Theorem 2.8 Let G be a graph with vertex set
, edge set E and
be a minimum covering set. If
are the eigenvalues of minimum covering Randić matrix
then (i)
(ii)
.
Proof. i) We know that the sum of the eigenvalues of
is the trace of ![]()
.
ii) Similarly the sum of squares of the eigenvalues of
is trace of ![]()
![]()
2.3. Bounds for Minimum Covering Randić Energy
Mclelland’s [8] gave upper and lower bounds for ordinary energy of a graph. Similar bounds for
are given in the following theorem.
Theorem 2.9 Let G be a simple graph with n vertices and m edges . If C is the minimum covering set and
then
.
Proof.
Canchy Schwarz inequality is![]()
If
then ![]()
[From theorem 2.8]
![]()
Since arithmetic mean is greater than or equal to geometric mean we have
![]()
(2.1)
Now consider, ![]()
[From (2.1)]
![]()
Theorem 2.10 If
is the largest minimum covering Randić eigenvalue of
, then
.
Proof. For any nonzero vector X, we have by [16] , ![]()
where
is a unit column matrix.
Just like Koolen and Moulton’s [17] upper bound for energy of a graph, an upper bound for
is given in the following theorem.
Theorem 2.11 If G is a graph with n vertices and m edges and
then
.
Proof.
Cauchy-Schwartzin equality is ![]()
Put
then ![]()
![]()
![]()
Let
![]()
For decreasing function ![]()
![]()
Since
, we have ![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
Milovanović [18] bounds for minimum covering Randić energy of a graph are given in the following theorem.
Theorem 2.12 Let G be a graph with n vertices and m edges. Let
be a non-increasing order of minimum covering Randić eigen- values of
and C is minimum covering set then
where
and
denotes the integral part of a real number.
Proof. For real numbers
and
with
and
the following inequality is proved in [19] .
where
and equality holds if and only if
and
.
If
and
, then
![]()
But
and
then the above inequality becomes
![]()
![]()
Theorem 2.13 Let G be a graph with n vertices and m edges. Let
be a non-increasing order of minimum covering eigenvalues of
then ![]()
Proof. Let
and R be real numbers satisfying
, then the fol- lowing inequality is proved in [20] .
![]()
Put
and
then
![]()
![]()
![]()
The question of when does the graph energy becomes a rational number was answered by Bapat and S. pati in their paper [21] . Similar result for minimum covering Randić energy is obtained in the following theorem.
Theorem 2.14 Let G be a graph with a minimum covering set C. If the minimum covering Randić energy
is a rational number, then
(mod 2).
Proof. Proof is similar to theorem 3.7 of [15] .
3. Conclusion
It was proved in this paper that the minimum covering Randić energy of a graph G depends on the covering set that we take for consideration. Upper and lower bounds for minimum covering Randić energy are established. A generalized expression for minimum covering Randić energies for star graph, complete graph, thorn graph of com- plete graph, crown graph, complete bipartite graph, cocktail party graph and friendship graphs are also computed.
Acknowledgements
The authors are thankful to anonymous referees for their valuable comments and useful suggestions.
Authors Contributions
Both the authors worked together for the preparation of the manuscript and both of us take the full responsibility for the content of the paper. However second author typed the paper and both of us read and approved the final manuscript.
Conflict of Interests
The authors hereby declares that there are no issues regarding the publication of this paper.