Bounds for the energy of a complex unit gain graph

Abstract

A $\mathbb{T}$-gain graph, $\Phi = (G, \varphi)$, is a graph in which the function $\varphi$ assigns a unit complex number to each orientation of an edge, and its inverse is assigned to the opposite orientation. The associated adjacency matrix $ A(\Phi) $ is defined canonically. The energy $ \mathcal{E}(\Phi) $ of a $ \mathbb{T} $-gain graph $ \Phi $ is the sum of the absolute values of all eigenvalues of $ A(\Phi) $. We study the notion of energy of a vertex of a $ \mathbb{T} $-gain graph, and establish bounds for it. For any $ \mathbb{T} $-gain graph $ \Phi$, we prove that $2\tau(G)-2c(G) \leq \mathcal{E}(\Phi) \leq 2\tau(G)\sqrt{\Delta(G)}$, where $ \tau(G), c(G)$ and $ \Delta(G)$ are the vertex cover number, the number of odd cycles and the largest vertex degree of $ G $, respectively. Furthermore, using the properties of vertex energy, we characterize the classes of $ \mathbb{T} $-gain graphs for which $ \mathcal{E}(\Phi)=2\tau(G)-2c(G) $ holds. Also, we characterize the classes of $ \mathbb{T} $-gain graphs for which $\mathcal{E}(\Phi)= 2\tau(G)\sqrt{\Delta(G)} $ holds. This characterization solves a general version of an open problem. In addition, we establish bounds for the energy in terms of the spectral radius of the associated adjacency matrix.