The largest common subtree of two random trees
Probability
2026-01-05 v1 Combinatorics
Abstract
We study the size and structure of the largest common subtree (LCS) between two independent Bienaym\'e trees conditioned to have size . When the trees are critical with finite nd and th moment respectively for some , we prove that the LCS has size of order , and is approximated by the length of three paths meeting at a central node. Moreover, we show that the largest common subtree between two critical independent Bienaym\'e trees with size and finite second moments may be much larger than , implying that our result is tight. We also pose a number of open questions and suggestions for future research.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2601.00119,
title = {The largest common subtree of two random trees},
author = {Omer Angel and Caelan Atamanchuk and Anna Brandenberger and Serte Donderwinkel and Robin Khanfir},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.00119},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
45 pages, 7 figures