On a conjecture of DeLaViña and Waller

Abstract

The Wiener index of a connected graph is defined as the sum of distances between all its unordered pairs of vertices. Characterising graphs on $n$ vertices with a fixed diameter that maximise the Wiener index is a long-standing open problem. This problem has been resolved fully for trees on $n$ vertices with diameter $d \in \{1,2,3,4,n-3,n-2,n-1\}$ while partial results are available for $d=5$ and $6$. In this context, a conjecture proposed by DeLaViña and Waller has remained open for the last 18 years. In this paper, we establish a necessary condition for a tree to attain the maximum Wiener index among all trees on $n$ vertices with a given diameter. Using this condition, we characterise the maximal trees for diameter $n-4$ and $n-5$. Furthermore, we prove the DeLaViña Waller conjecture for the classes of graphs having $0,1,2,3$ or $n-4$ cut vertices.