On Unicyclic Graphs with a Given Number of Pendent Vertices or Matching Number and Their Graphical Edge-Weight-Function Indices

Consider a unicyclic graph G with edge set E(G). Let f be a real-valued symmetric function defined on the Cartesian square of the set of all distinct elements of G’s degree sequence. A graphical edge-weight-function index of G is defined as If(G)=∑xy∈E(G)f(dG(x),dG(y)), where dG(x) denotes the degree a vertex x in G. This paper determines optimal bounds for If(G) in terms of the order of G and a parameter z, where z is either the number of pendent vertices of G or the matching number of G. The paper also fully characterizes all unicyclic graphs that achieve these bounds. The function f must satisfy specific requirements, which are met by several popular indices, including the Sombor index (and its reduced version), arithmetic–geometric index, sigma index, and symmetric division degree index. Consequently, the general results obtained provide bounds for several well-known indices.