Random recursive trees and the Bolthausen-Sznitman coalescent

Journal article

We describe a representation of the Bolthausen-Sznitman coalescent in terms of the cutting of random recursive trees. Using this representation, we prove results concerning the final collision of the coalescent restricted to [n]: we show that the distribution of the number of blocks involved in the final collision converges as n tends to infinity, and obtain a scaling law for the sizes of these blocks. We also consider the discrete-time Markov chain giving the number of blocks after each collision of the coalescent restricted to [n]; we show that the transition probabilities of the time-reversal of this Markov chain have limits as n tends to infinity. These results can be interpreted as describing a ``post-gelation'' phase of the Bolthausen-Sznitman coalescent, in which a giant cluster containing almost all of the mass has already formed and the remaining small blocks are being absorbed.

Authors: Goldschmidt, C; Martin, J

• Publication status: Published
• Journal: Electron. J. Probab. Vol. 10 (2005) paper 21, pp. 718-745
• Volume: 10
• Pages: 718-745
• Publication date: 2005-02-13
• ISSN: 1083-6489
• Language: English
• Keywords: math.PR; 60J25 (Primary) 60C05, 60F05, 05C05 (Secondary); math.CO