English

On exponentially height-penalized random trees

Probability 2025-12-22 v1 Combinatorics

Abstract

Given nNn \in \mathbb{N} and μR\mu \in \mathbb{R}, a \textit{\muheightbiasedtreeofsize-height-biased tree of size n} is a random plane tree Tn\mathbf{\mathbf{T}}_n with nn vertices with law given by P(T=t)eμh(t)\mathbb{P}(\mathbf{T}=t) \propto e^{-\mu h(t)}, where tt ranges over fixed plane trees with nn vertices, and h(t)h(t) is the height of tt. Fix a sequence (μn)n1(\mu_n)_{n \ge 1} of real numbers, and for n1n \ge 1 let Tn\mathbf{T}_n be a μ\mu-height-biased tree of size nn. Durhuus and \"Unel (2023) described the asymptotic behaviour of h(Tn)h(\mathbf{T}_n) when μnμR\mu_n \equiv \mu \in \mathbb{R} is fixed. In this work, we extend their results to arbitrary sequences of positive parameters depending on nn. Most notably, we show that such a tree behaves like a height-biased Continuum Random Tree (CRT) when μn\mu_n is of order 1/n1/\sqrt{n}; that its height is asymptotically (2π2n/μn)1/3(2\pi^2n/\mu_n)^{1/3} when μn\mu_n is of larger order than 1/n1/\sqrt{n} and of smaller order than nn; and that its height converges to a fixed constant when μn\mu_n is of order at least nn, with some random jumps under specific conditions on μn\mu_n. We additionally prove various results on second order behaviours, and large deviation principles for the height, for different regimes of μn\mu_n. Finally, we describe new statistics of these trees, covering their widths, their root degrees, and the local structure around their roots.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2512.17747,
  title  = {On exponentially height-penalized random trees},
  author = {Louigi Addario-Berry and Benoît Corsini and Neeladri Maitra and Meltem Ünel},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2512.17747},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

53 pages, 3 figures

R2 v1 2026-07-01T08:33:46.991Z