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The $k$-apex trees with minimum augmented Zagreb index

For a connected graph $G$ on at least three vertices, the augmented Zagreb index (AZI) of $G$ is defined as $$AZI(G)=\sum_{uv\in E(G)}\left(\frac{d(u)d(v)}{d(u)+d(v)-2}\right)^{3},$$ being a topological index well-correlated with the formation heat of heptanes and octanes. A $k$-apex tree $G$ is a connected graph admitting a $k$-subset $X\subset V(G)$ such that $G-X$ is a tree, while $G-S$ is not a tree for any $S\subset V(G)$ of cardinality less than $k$. By investigating some structural properties of $k$-apex trees, we identify the graphs minimizing the AZI among all $k$-apex trees on $n$ vertices for $k\ge 4$ and $n\ge 3(k+1)$. The latter solves an open problem posed in [K. Cheng, M. Liu, F. Belardo, {\em Appl. Math. Comput.}, {\bf402} (2021), 126139].