On the Distance Spectral Radius of Trees with Given Degree Sequence

We consider the problem of maximizing the distance spectral radius and a slight generalization thereof among all trees with some prescribed degree sequence. We prove in particular that the maximum of the distance spectral radius has to be attained by a caterpillar for any given degree sequence. The same holds true for the terminal distance matrix. Moreover, we consider a generalized version of the reverse distance matrix and also study its spectral radius for trees with given degree sequence. We prove that the spectral radius is always maximized by a greedy tree. This implies several corollaries, among them a “reversed” version of a conjecture of Stevanović and Ilić. Our results parallel similar theorems for the Wiener index and other invariants