English

The Gomory-Hu inequality and trees

General Topology 2026-04-21 v1

Abstract

Let G=(V,E)G=(V,E) be a finite connected graph with vertex set VV and edge set EE, and let U(G)U(G) be the set of all ultrametric spaces (V,dl)(V,d_l) generated by vertex labelings l ⁣:VR+l\colon V \to \mathbb R^+. We prove that the inequality D(V)E+1 |D(V)| \le |E| + 1 holds for all (V,dl)U(G)(V,d_l) \in U(G), where D(V)D(V) is the distance set of (V,dl)(V,d_l). The necessary and sufficient conditions under which the above inequality turns to an equality are found. Moreover, we prove that each connected graph with non-negative vertex labeling generates a pseudoultrametric space and find some sufficient conditions under which this space is ultrametric.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2604.18400,
  title  = {The Gomory-Hu inequality and trees},
  author = {Oleksiy Dovgoshey and Olga Rovenska},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.18400},
  year   = {2026}
}
R2 v1 2026-07-01T12:18:35.823Z