We study the profile $X_{n,k}$ of random search trees including binary search trees and $m$-ary search trees. Our main result is a functional limit theorem of the normalized profile $X_{n,k}/\mathbb{E}X_{n,k}$ for $k=\lfloorα\log n\rfloor$ in a certain range of $α$. A central feature of the proof is the use of the contraction method to prove convergence in distribution of certain random analytic functions in a complex domain. This is based on a general theorem concerning the contraction method for random variables in an infinite-dimensional Hilbert space. As part of the proof, we show that the Zolotarev metric is complete for a Hilbert space.
We are interested in the asymptotic analysis of the binary search tree (BST) under the random permutation model. Via an embedding in a continuous time model, we get new results, in particular the asymptotic behavior of the profile.
In this paper we prove a functional limit theorem for the weighted profile of a $b$-ary tree. For the proof we use classical martingales connected to branching Markov processes and a generalized version of the profile-polynomial martingale. By embedding, choosing weights and a branch factor in a right way, we finally rediscover the profiles of some well-known discrete time trees.
We propose a new, direct, correlation-free approach based on central moments of profiles to the asymptotics of width (size of the most abundant level) in some random trees of logarithmic height. The approach is simple but gives precise estimates for expected width, central moments of the width and almost sure convergence. It is widely applicable to random trees of logarithmic height, including recursive trees, binary search trees, quad trees, plane-oriented ordered trees and other varieties of increasing trees.
We revisit the random $m$-ary search tree and study a finer profile of its node outdegrees with the purpose of exploring possibilities of data structure compression. The analysis is done via Pólya urns. The analysis shows that the number of nodes of each individual node outdegree has a phase transition: Up to $m=26$, the number of nodes of outdegree $k$, for $k=0,1, \ldots, m$, is asymptotically normal; that behavior changes at $m = 27$. Based on the analysis, we propose a compact $m$-ary tree that offers significant space saving.
Drmota and Gittenberger (1997) proved a conjecture due to Aldous (1991) on the height profile of a Galton-Watson tree with an offspring distribution of finite variance, conditioned on a total size of $n$ individuals. The conjecture states that in distribution its shape, more precisely its scaled height profile coincides asymptotically with the local time process of a Brownian excursion of duration 1. We give a proof of the result, which extends to the case of an infinite variance offspring distribution. This requires a different strategy, since in the infinite variance case there is no longer …
We give a detailed asymptotic analysis of the profiles of random symmetric digital search trees, which are in close connection with the performance of the search complexity of random queries in such trees. While the expected profiles have been analyzed for several decades, the analysis of the variance turns out to be very difficult and challenging, and requires the combination of several different analytic techniques, including Mellin and Laplace transforms, analytic de-Poissonization, and Laplace convolutions. Our results imply concentration of the profiles in the range where the mean tends t…
We investigate vertex levels of containment in a random hypergraph grown in the spirit of a recursive tree. We consider a local profile tracking the evolution of the containment of a particular vertex over time, and a global profile concerned about counts of the number of vertices of a particular containment level. For the local containment profile, we obtain the exact mean, variance and probability distribution in terms of standard combinatorial quantities like generalized harmonic numbers and Stirling numbers of the first kind. Asymptotically, we observe phases: the early vertices have an as…
We give an invariance principle for very general additive functionals of conditioned Bienaym{é}-Galton-Watson trees in the global regime when the offspring distribution lies in the domain of attraction of a stable distribution, the limit being an additive functional of a stable L{é}vy tree. This includes the case when the offspring distribution has finite variance (the L{é}vy tree being then the Brownian tree). We also describe, using an integral test, a phase transition for toll functions depending on the size and height.
A degree sequence is a sequence ${\bf s}=(N_i,i\geq 0)$ of non-negative integers satisfying $1+\sum_i iN_i=\sum_i N_i<\infty$. We are interested in the uniform distribution $\mathbb{P}_{\bf s}$ on rooted plane trees whose degree sequence equals ${\bf s}$, giving conditions for the convergence of the profile (sequence of generation sizes) as the size of the tree goes to infinity. This provides a more general formulation and a probabilistic proof of a conjecture due to Aldous (1991). Our formulation contains and extends results in this direction obtained previously by Drmota and Gittenberger (19…
Let $X_n(k)$ be the number of vertices at level $k$ in a random recursive tree with $n+1$ vertices. We prove a functional limit theorem for the vector-valued process $(X_{[n^t]}(1),\ldots, X_{[n^t]}(k))_{t\geq 0}$, for each $k\in\mathbb N$. We show that after proper centering and normalization, this process converges weakly to a vector-valued Gaussian process whose components are integrated Brownian motions. This result is deduced from a functional limit theorem for Crump-Mode-Jagers branching processes generated by increasing random walks with increments that have finite second moment.
It is well-known that the height profile of a critical conditioned Galton-Watson tree with finite offspring variance converges, after a suitable normalization, to the local time of a standard Brownian excursion. In this work, we study the distance profile, defined as the profile of all distances between pairs of vertices. We show that after a proper rescaling the distance profile converges to a continuous random function that can be described as the density of distances between random points in the Brownian continuum random tree. We show that this limiting function a.s. is Hölder continuous of…
We study the shape of the normalized stable Lévy tree $\mathcal{T}$ near its root. We show that, when zooming in at the root at the proper speed with a scaling depending on the index of stability, we get the unnormalized Kesten tree. In particular the limit is described by a tree-valued Poisson point process which does not depend on the initial normalization. We apply this to study the asymptotic behavior of additive functionals of the form \[\mathbf{Z}_{α,β}=\int_{\mathcal{T}} μ(\mathrm{d} x) \int_0^{H(x)} σ_{r,x}^α\mathfrak{h}_{r,x}^β\,\mathrm{d} r\]as $\max(α,β) \to \infty$, where $μ$ is th…
We design a theoretic tree-based functional representation of a class of Feynman-Kac particle distributions, including an extension of the Wick product formula to interacting particle systems. These weak expansions rely on an original combinatorial, and permutation group analysis of a special class of forests. They provide refined non asymptotic propagation of chaos type properties, as well as sharp $\LL\_p$-mean error bounds, and laws of large numbers for $U$-statistics. Applications to particle interpretations of the top eigenvalues, and the ground states of Schrödinger semigroups are also d…
We prove some asymptotic results for the radius and the profile of large random rooted planar maps with faces of arbitrary degrees. Using a bijection due to Bouttier, Di Francesco and Guitter between rooted planar maps and certain four-type trees with positive labels, we derive our results from a conditional limit theorem for four-type spatial Galton-Watson trees.
We study the local convergence of critical Galton-Watson trees and Levy trees under various conditionings. Assuming a very general monotonicity property on the functional of random trees, we show that random trees conditioned to have large functional values always converge locally to immortal trees. We also derive a very general ratio limit property for functionals of random trees satisfying the monotonicity property. Then we move on to study the local convergence of critical continuous-state branching processes, and prove a similar result. Finally we give a definition of continuum condensatio…
We study Random Walks in an i.i.d. Random Environment (RWRE) defined on $b$-regular trees. We prove a functional central limit theorem (FCLT) for transient processes, under a moment condition on the environment. We emphasize that we make no uniform ellipticity assumptions. Our approach relies on regenerative levels, i.e. levels that are visited exactly once. On the way, we prove that the distance between consecutive regenerative levels have a geometrically decaying tail. In the second part of this paper, we apply our results to Linearly Edge-Reinforced Random Walk (LERRW) to prove FCLT when th…
We consider a conditioned Galton-Watson tree and prove an estimate of the number of pairs of vertices with a given distance, or, equivalently, the number of paths of a given length. We give two proofs of this result, one probabilistic and the other using generating functions and singularity analysis. Moreover, the second proof yields a more general estimate for generating functions, which is used to prove a conjecture by Bousquet-Melou and Janson saying that the vertical profile of a randomly labelled conditioned Galton-Watson tree converges in distribution, after suitable normalization, to th…
We design exact polynomial expansions of a class of Feynman--Kac particle distributions. These expansions are finite and are parametrized by coalescent trees and other related combinatorial quantities. The accuracy of the expansions at any order is related naturally to the number of coalescences of the trees. Our results include an extension of the Wick product formula to interacting particle systems. They also provide refined nonasymptotic propagation of chaos-type properties, as well as sharp $\mathbb{L}_p$-mean error bounds, and laws of large numbers for $U$-statistics.
We prove an asymptotic Edgeworth expansion for the profiles of certain random trees including binary search trees, random recursive trees and plane-oriented random trees, as the size of the tree goes to infinity. All these models can be seen as special cases of the one-split branching random walk for which we also provide an Edgeworth expansion. These expansions lead to new results on mode, width and occupation numbers of the trees, settling several open problems raised in Devroye and Hwang [Ann. Appl. Probab. 16(2): 886--918, 2006], Fuchs, Hwang and Neininger [Algorithmica, 46 (3--4): 367--40…
We consider conditioned Galton-Watson trees and show asymptotic normality of additive functionals that are defined by toll functions that are not too large. This includes, as a special case, asymptotic normality of the number of fringe subtrees isomorphic to any given tree, and joint asymptotic normality for several such subtree counts. Another example is the number of protected nodes. The offspring distribution defining the random tree is assumed to have expectation 1 and finite variance; no further moment condition is assumed.
A Markov Additive Process is a bi-variate Markov process $(ξ,J)=\big((ξ_t,J_t),t\geq0\big)$ which should be thought of as a multi-type Lévy process: the second component $J$ is a Markov chain on a finite space $\{1,\ldots,K\}$, and the first component $ξ$ behaves locally as a Lévy process, with local dynamics depending on $J$. In the subordinator-like case where $ξ$ is nondecreasing, we establish several results concerning the moments of $ξ$ and of its exponential functional $I_ξ=\int_{0}^{\infty} e^{-ξ_t}\mathrm dt,$ extending the work of Carmona et al., and Bertoin and Yor. We then apply the…
Additive tree functionals represent the cost of many divide-and-conquer algorithms. We derive the limiting distribution of the additive functionals induced by toll functions of the form (a) n^αwhen α> 0 and (b) log n (the so-called shape functional) on uniformly distributed binary search trees, sometimes called Catalan trees. The Gaussian law obtained in the latter case complements the central limit theorem for the shape functional under the random permutation model. Our results give rise to an apparently new family of distributions containing the Airy distribution (α= 1) and the normal distri…
Stochastic Taylor expansions of the expectation of functionals applied to diffusion processes which are solutions of stochastic differential equation systems are introduced. Taylor formulas w.r.t. increments of the time are presented for both, Itô and Stratonovich stochastic differential equation systems with multi-dimensional Wiener processes. Due to the very complex formulas arising for higher order expansions, an advantageous graphical representation by coloured trees is developed. The convergence of truncated formulas is analyzed and estimates for the truncation error are calculated. Final…
Using recent results on singularity analysis for Hadamard products of generating functions, we obtain the limiting distributions for additive functionals on $m$-ary search trees on $n$ keys with toll sequence (i) $n^α$ with $α\geq 0$ ($α=0$ and $α=1$ correspond roughly to the space requirement and total path length, respectively); (ii) $\ln \binom{n}{m-1}$, which corresponds to the so-called shape functional; and (iii) $\mathbf{1}_{n=m-1}$, which corresponds to the number of leaves.
For a complex number $α$, we consider the sum of the $α$th powers of subtree sizes in Galton--Watson trees conditioned to be of size $n$. Limiting distributions of this functional $X_n(α)$ have been determined for $\Reα\neq 0$, revealing a transition between a complex normal limiting distribution for $\Reα< 0$ and a non-normal limiting distribution for $\Reα> 0$. In this paper, we complete the picture by proving a normal limiting distribution, along with moment convergence, in the missing case $\Reα= 0$. The same results are also established in the case of the so-called shape functional $X_n'(…
Let $W_{\infty}(β)$ be the limit of the Biggins martingale $W_n(β)$ associated to a supercritical branching random walk with mean number of offspring $m$. We prove a functional central limit theorem stating that as $n\to\infty$ the process $$ D_n(u):= m^{\frac 12 n} \left(W_{\infty}\left(\frac{u}{\sqrt n}\right) - W_{n}\left(\frac{u}{\sqrt n}\right) \right) $$ converges weakly, on a suitable space of analytic functions, to a Gaussian random analytic function with random variance. Using this result we prove central limit theorems for the total path length of random trees. In the setting of bina…
We give general theorems on asymptotic normality for additive functionals of random tries generated by a sequence of independent strings. These theorems are applied to show asymptotic normality of the distribution of random fringe trees in a random trie. Formulas for asymptotic mean and variance are given. In particular, the proportion of fringe trees of size $k$ (defined as number of keys) is asymptotically, ignoring oscillations, $c/(k(k-1))$ for $k\ge2$, where $c=1/(1+H)$ with $H$ the entropy of the digits. Another application gives asymptotic normality of the number of $k$-protected nodes …
Search trees are fundamental data structures in computer science. We study functionals on random search trees that satisfy recurrence relations of a simple additive form. Many important functionals including the space requirement, internal path length, and the so-called shape functional fall under this framework. Our goal is to derive asymptotics of moments and identify limiting distributions of these functionals under two commonly studied probability models -- the random permutation model and the uniform model. For the random permutation model, our approach is based on establishing transfer t…
For certain random variables that arise as limits of functionals of random finite trees, we obtain precise asymptotics for the logarithm of the right-hand tail. Our results are based on the facts (i) that the random variables we study can be represented as functionals of a Brownian excursion and (ii) that a large deviation principle with good rate function is known explicitly for Brownian excursion. Examples include limit distributions of the total path length and of the Wiener index in conditioned Galton-Watson trees (also known as simply generated trees). In the case of Wiener index (where w…
The limit distribution of the total cost incurred by splitting a tree uniformly distributed on the set of all finite free trees, appears as an additive functional induced by a toll equal to the square of the size of tree. The main tools used are the recent results connecting the asymptotics of generating functions with the asymptotics of their Hadamard product, and the method of moments.
We derive several explicit distributions of functionals of Brownian motion indexed by the Brownian tree. In particular, we give a direct proof of a result of Bousquet-Mélou and Janson identifying the distribution of the density at 0 of the integrated super-Brownian excursion.
We show that an algorithmic construction of sequences of recursive trees leads to a direct proof of the convergence of random recursive trees in an associated Doob-Martin compactification; it also gives a representation of the limit in terms of the input sequence of the algorithm. We further show that this approach can be used to obtain strong limit theorems for various tree functionals, such as path length or the Wiener index.
It has been known for a few years that the occupation measure of several models of embedded trees converges, after a suitable normalization, to the random measure called ISE (Integrated SuperBrownian Excursion). Here, we prove a local version of this result: ISE has a (random) Hölder continuous density, and the vertical profile of embedded trees converges to this density, at least for some such trees. As a consequence, we derive a formula for the distribution of the density of ISE at a given point. This follows from earlier results by Bousquet-Mélou on convergence of the vertical profile at a …
We introduce generalizations of Aldous' Brownian Continuous Random Tree as scaling limits for multicritical models of discrete trees. These discrete models involve trees with fine-tuned vertex-dependent weights ensuring a k-th root singularity in their generating function. The scaling limit involves continuous trees with branching points of order up to k+1. We derive explicit integral representations for the average profile of this k-th order multicritical continuous random tree, as well as for its history distributions measuring multi-point correlations. The latter distributions involve non-p…
We investigate the realizations of a random Gaussian field on a finite domain of ${\mathbb R}^d$ in the limit where a given linear functional of the field is large. We prove that if its variance is bounded, the field converges uniformly and almost surely to a non random profile depending only on the covariance and the considered linear functional of the field. This is a significant improvement of the weaker $L^2$-convergence in probability previously obtained in the case of conditioning on a large quadratic functional.
