Asymptotics of heights in random trees constructed by aggregation

Abstract

To each sequence $(a_n)$ of positive real numbers we associate a growing sequence $(T_n)$ of continuous trees built recursively by gluing at step $n$ a segment of length $a_n$ on a uniform point of the pre-existing tree, starting from a segment $T_1$ of length $a_1$. Previous works on that model focus on the influence of $(a_n)$ on the compactness and Hausdorff dimension of the limiting tree. Here we consider the cases where the sequence $(a_n)$ is regularly varying with a non-negative index, so that the sequence $(T_n)$ exploses. We determine the asymptotics of the height of $T_n$ and of the subtrees of $T_n$ spanned by the root and $\ell$ points picked uniformly at random and independently in $T_n$, for all $\ell \in \mathbb N$