Combinatorics – Number of Paths Through Infinite Trees with Given Growth Rates

co.combinatoricsset-theorytrees

(Preface: This may be a naive or easy question for experts….)

Consider an infinite tree, rooted on the left, where each node has two children; the number of nodes at each level (distance from the root) $n$ is $f(n) = 2^n$.
The number of paths is $2^{\omega}$, the cardinality of the continuum (uncountable).
Infinite tree with "growth rate" 2^n

Now consider a similar tree where only one node at each level has an extra child; the number of nodes at each level $n$ is $f(n) = n+1$. In this case, the number of paths is $\omega$; the paths here are countable.
Infinite tree with linear "growth rate"

My question is, what happens in between?
I would formalize the setting as follows (but maybe I have some details wrong): Suppose I have an infinite rooted tree, where each node has at least one child, and the number of nodes at distance $n$ from the root is $f(n)$ where $n \leq f(n) \leq 2^n$. Then what can we say about the number of paths in terms of the "growth rate" $f$?

Infinite tree with "growth rate" f(n)

For example, if the "growth rate" is polynomial, must there be a countable number of paths? Are there growth rate functions for which the cardinality of the number of paths is independent of ZFC, i.e. depends on the continuum hypothesis? Any other notes/comments?

Best Answer

On the one hand, the comments explain that a low-growth-rate tree can still have continuum many branches. Indeed, the growth rate can be extremely slow, with most levels having no splitting at all, but then every once in a very long while, a single node splits. Just make sure at the $k^{th}$ such splitting that you are splitting at a node above the $k^{th}$ binary sequence of the tree (in some fixed standard enumeration of all finite binary sequences), and then the resulting tree $T$ will have the property that every node lies below a splitting node. This property will ensure a subtree of type $2^{<\omega}$, and hence give you continuum many branches.

In contrast, it is the converse question that I find extremely interesting, and which could be considered the real content of your question. Namely,

Question. What is a sufficient growth rate on the tree $T$ to ensure that it has continuum many branches?

The answer is that the growth rate must be essentially close to $2^n$, in the precise senses described by the following theorems. On the one hand, such a high growth rate suffices for continuum many paths:

Theorem. If $T\subset 2^{<\omega}$ is a binary tree with growth rate $\Omega(2^n)$ (in the Knuth sense big-Omega notation), then $T$ has continuum many branches.

Proof. What I intend to assume on the growth rate is that is that there is a positive real number $r>0$ such that the number of nodes on the $n^{th}$ level of $T$ is at least $r2^n$. Thus, the complement of the set of paths through $T$ is approximated by the unions of the cones above the omitted nodes on this level, and this has measure at most $1-r$ with respect to the usual coin-flipping probability measure on Cantor space. Since this is true at each level, it follows that the measure of the paths through $T$ is at least $r$, which is positive, and so there must be uncountably many paths through $T$. Since this is a closed set, it follows by the Cantor-Bendixson theorem that $T$ has continuum many paths. QED

On the other hand, any lower growth rate does not ensure continuum many paths.

Theorem. If $f:\mathbb{N}\to\mathbb{N}$ is in $o(2^n)$ (see little-o notation), then there is a tree $T$ with growth rate exceeding $f$, but having only countably many paths.

Proof. The growth rate assumption is that for every $r>0$, it will be true for large enough $n$ that $f(n)<r2^n$.

Let me describe a general procedure for building a tree $T$ with a very high growth rate, but with only countably many branches. We build $T$ in stages. First, we let $T$ use the full binary branching up to some level $n_0$. Then, at this stage, we kill off the future growth of half the branches, the ones beginning with $0$, forcing them to become isolated branches in the tree starting at level $n_0$, continued only with more $0$s after $n_0$. Meanwhile, we let the other "live" nodes, those having $1$ in their first bit, to continue splitting above $n_0$ until some much larger stage $n_1$. At that level, we again kill off half of them. Namely, any node beginning with $10$ will become isolated at $n_1$, and the others, beginning with $11$, will continue splitting up until the very much later stage $n_2$. And so on.

The general procedure is: at level $n_k$, the nodes beginning with $1^k0$ will become isolated at level $n_k$ (which is much larger than $k$), and the nodes beginning with $1^k$ are allowed to continue branching up to level $n_{k+1}$.

The resulting tree $T$ will have only countably many branches, since the only branches will be the isolated branches that we forced to occur, plus the all $11111\cdots$ branch, since whenever a sequence has its first $0$ in position $k$, it will become isolated at level $n_k$.

But now, the main point, is that by choosing the levels $n_0<n_1<n_2<\cdots$ to be very fast growing, we can ensure a growth rate exceeding $f$. Specifically, since $f$ is $o(2^n)$, there is for each $k$ a number $n_k$ such that $f(n)<2^{n-k}$ for all $n\geq n_k$, and we may also assume $n_0<n_1<n_2<\cdots$. Now, with the $T$ as defined above, it follows that the number of nodes of $T$ on level $n_k$ is at least $2^{n_k-k}$, and it remains at least $2^{n-k}$ for $n_k\leq n<n_{k+1}$, and this is larger than $f(n)$, as desired. So the growth rate of $T$ is at least $f$, even though $T$ has only countably many paths. QED