The comb representation of compact ultrametric spaces

Abstract : We call a \emph{comb} a map $f:I\to [0,\infty)$, where $I$ is a compact interval, such that $\{f\ge \varepsilon\}$ is finite for any $\varepsilon$. A comb induces a (pseudo)-distance $d_f$ on $\{f=0\}$ defined by $d_f(s,t) = \max_{(s\wedge t, s\vee t)} f$. We describe the completion $\bar I$ of $\{f=0\}$ for this metric, which is a compact ultrametric space called \emph{comb metric space}. Conversely, we prove that any compact, ultrametric space $(U,d)$ without isolated points is isometric to a comb metric space. We show various examples of the comb representation of well-known ultrametric spaces: the Kingman coalescent, infinite sequences of a finite alphabet, the $p$-adic field and spheres of locally compact real trees. In particular, for a rooted, locally compact real tree defined from its contour process $h$, the comb isometric to the sphere of radius $T$ centered at the root can be extracted from $h$ as the depths of its excursions away from $T$.
Keywords :
Type de document :
Pré-publication, Document de travail
2016

https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01287143
Contributeur : Amaury Lambert <>
Soumis le : vendredi 11 mars 2016 - 18:38:34
Dernière modification le : mardi 11 octobre 2016 - 15:20:14

Identifiants

• HAL Id : hal-01287143, version 1
• ARXIV : 1602.08246

Citation

Amaury Lambert, Geronimo Uribe Bravo. The comb representation of compact ultrametric spaces. 2016. <hal-01287143>

Métriques

Consultations de la notice