X-Trees and Weighted Quartet Systems

Abstract.

In this note, we consider a finite set X and maps W from the set $ \mathcal{S}_{2|2} (X) $ of all 2, 2- splits of X into $ \mathbb{R}_{\geq 0} $. We show that such a map W is induced, in a canonical way, by a binary X-tree for which a positive length $ \mathcal{l} (e) $ is associated to every inner edge e if and only if (i) exactly two of the three numbers W(ab|cd),W(ac|bd), and W(ad|cb) vanish, for any four distinct elements a, b, c, d in X, (ii) $ a \neq d \quad\mathrm{and}\quad W (ab|xc) + W(ax|cd) = W(ab|cd) $ holds for all a, b, c, d, x in X with #{a, b, c, x} = #{b, c, d, x} = 4 and $ W(ab|cx),W(ax|cd) $ > 0, and (iii) $ W (ab|uv) \geq \quad \mathrm{min} (W(ab|uw), W(ab|vw)) $ holds for any five distinct elements a, b, u, v, w in X. Possible generalizations regarding arbitrary $ \mathbb{R} $-trees and applications regarding tree-reconstruction algorithms are indicated.