English

Induced betweenness in order-theoretic trees

Logic in Computer Science 2021-12-01 v1

Abstract

The ternary relation B(x,y,z)B(x,y,z) of betweenness states that an element yy is between the elements xx and zz, in some sense depending on the considered structure. In a partially ordered set (N,)(N,\leq), B(x,y,z):x<y<zz<y<xB(x,y,z):\Longleftrightarrow x<y<z\vee z<y<x. The corresponding betweenness structure is (N,B)(N,B). The class of betweenness structures of linear orders is first-order definable. That of partial orders is monadic second-order definable. An order-theoretic tree is a partial order such that the set of elements larger that any element is linearly ordered and any two elements have an upper-bound. Finite or infinite rooted trees ordered by the ancestor relation are order-theoretic trees. In an order-theoretic tree, we define B(x,y,z)B(x,y,z) to mean that x<y<zx<y<z or z<y<xz<y<x or x<yxzx<y\leq x\sqcup z or z<yxzz<y\leq x\sqcup z provided the least upper-bound xzx\sqcup z of xx and zz is defined when xx and zz are incomparable. In a previous article, we established that the corresponding class of betweenness structures is monadic second-order definable.We prove here that the induced substructures of the betweenness structures of the countable order-theoretic trees form a monadic second-order definable class, denoted by IBO. The proof uses a variant of cographs, the partitioned probe cographs, and their known six finite minimal excluded induced subgraphs called the bounds of the class. This proof links two apparently unrelated topics: cographs and order-theoretic trees.However, the class IBO has finitely many bounds, i.e., minimal excluded finite induced substructures. Hence it is first-order definable. The proof of finiteness uses well-quasi-orders and does not provide the finite list of bounds. Hence, the associated first-order defining sentence is not known.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2111.15357,
  title  = {Induced betweenness in order-theoretic trees},
  author = {Bruno Courcelle},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2111.15357},
  year   = {2021}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-24T07:57:39.147Z