Skip to main content

One time I heard a talk about "the" random tree. This tree has one vertex for each natural number, and the edges are constructed probabilistically. Connect vertex 2$2$ to vertex 1$1$. Connect vertex 3$3$ to vertex 1$1$ or 2$2$ with probability 1/2$\frac{1}{2}$. Connect vertex n+1$n+1$ to exactly one of vertices 1, ..., n$1,\dots, n$ with equal probability (1/n)$\frac{1}{n}$. This procedure will construct an infinite tree. The theorem is that with probability 1$1$, any tree constructed this way will be the same (up to permutation of the vertices).

My question is, does anyone know of a reference for this result? What is the automorphism group of this tree? Can anyone draw a picture of it?

I don't have any reason for knowing about this, just curiosity, and I wasn't able to turn up anything with a (not too extensive) internet/mathscinet search.

One time I heard a talk about "the" random tree. This tree has one vertex for each natural number, and the edges are constructed probabilistically. Connect vertex 2 to vertex 1. Connect vertex 3 to vertex 1 or 2 with probability 1/2. Connect vertex n+1 to exactly one of vertices 1, ..., n with equal probability (1/n). This procedure will construct an infinite tree. The theorem is that with probability 1, any tree constructed this way will be the same (up to permutation of the vertices).

My question is, does anyone know of a reference for this result? What is the automorphism group of this tree? Can anyone draw a picture of it?

I don't have any reason for knowing about this, just curiosity, and I wasn't able to turn up anything with a (not too extensive) internet/mathscinet search.

One time I heard a talk about "the" random tree. This tree has one vertex for each natural number, and the edges are constructed probabilistically. Connect vertex $2$ to vertex $1$. Connect vertex $3$ to vertex $1$ or $2$ with probability $\frac{1}{2}$. Connect vertex $n+1$ to exactly one of vertices $1,\dots, n$ with equal probability $\frac{1}{n}$. This procedure will construct an infinite tree. The theorem is that with probability $1$, any tree constructed this way will be the same (up to permutation of the vertices).

My question is, does anyone know of a reference for this result? What is the automorphism group of this tree? Can anyone draw a picture of it?

I don't have any reason for knowing about this, just curiosity, and I wasn't able to turn up anything with a (not too extensive) internet/mathscinet search.

Source Link
Ian Agol
  • 68.9k
  • 3
  • 194
  • 358

"The" random tree

One time I heard a talk about "the" random tree. This tree has one vertex for each natural number, and the edges are constructed probabilistically. Connect vertex 2 to vertex 1. Connect vertex 3 to vertex 1 or 2 with probability 1/2. Connect vertex n+1 to exactly one of vertices 1, ..., n with equal probability (1/n). This procedure will construct an infinite tree. The theorem is that with probability 1, any tree constructed this way will be the same (up to permutation of the vertices).

My question is, does anyone know of a reference for this result? What is the automorphism group of this tree? Can anyone draw a picture of it?

I don't have any reason for knowing about this, just curiosity, and I wasn't able to turn up anything with a (not too extensive) internet/mathscinet search.