The \(k\)-ball \(l\)-path branch weight centroid (Q1382282)

Some generalizations of the branch weight in a tree are considered, namely the \(k\)-branch weight, the \(k\)-ball branch weight, and the \(k\)-ball \(l\)-path branch weight. The branch weight \(b(x)\) of a vertex \(x\) in a tree \(T\) is the maximum number of vertices of a component of \(T-x\). The \(k\)-ball \(B(x;k)\) of \(x\) is the set of all vertices of \(T\) whose distance from \(x\) is at most \(k\). If \(P\) is a path of length \(l\) with one end vertex \(x\), then \(\beta (x;k,P)\) is the number of vertices of \(T\) which are reachable from \(x\) via \(P\) and are outside \(B(x;k)\). The maximum of \(\beta (x;k,P)\), taken over all paths \(P\) in \(T\) of length \(l\) with one end vertex \(x\), is the \(k\)-ball \(l\)-path branch weight \(\beta (x;k,l)\) of \(x\). The set of vertices \(x\) of \(T\) with the minimum value of \(\beta (x;k,l)\) is the \(k\)-ball \(l\)-path branch weight centroid \(B(T;k,l)\) of \(T\). Properties of this concept are studied.