On the variable inverse sum deg index.

Several important topological indices studied in mathematical chemistry are expressed in the following way $ \sum_{uv \in E(G)} F(d_u, d_v) $, where $ F $ is a two variable function that satisfies the condition $ F(x, y) = F(y, x) $, $ uv $ denotes an edge of the graph $ G $ and $ d_u $ is the degree of the vertex $ u $. Among them, the variable inverse sum deg index $ IS\!D_a $, with $ F(d_u, d_v) = 1/(d_u^a+d_v^a) $, was found to have several applications. In this paper, we solve some problems posed by Vukičević , and we characterize graphs with maximum and minimum values of the $ IS\!D_a $ index, for $ a < 0 $, in the following sets of graphs with $ n $ vertices: graphs with fixed minimum degree, connected graphs with fixed minimum degree, graphs with fixed maximum degree, and connected graphs with fixed maximum degree. Also, we performed a QSPR analysis to test the predictive power of this index for some physicochemical properties of polyaromatic hydrocarbons.