Sets of double and triple weights of trees (Q659656)

Let \(T\) be a weighted tree with \(n\) leaves labelled by \(\{1,\dots, n\}\). The numbers \(D_{i,j}(T)\), \(i,j\in\{1,\dots,n\}\), are defined as sums of weights of the edges contained in the \(ij\)-paths in \(T\). The numbers \(D_{i,j,k}(T)\) are defined as \(D_{i,j,k}(T)=\frac12(D_{i,j}(T)+D_{j,k}(T)+D_{i,k}(T))\) (the total weight of the smallest subtree of \(T\) connecting \(i,j,k\)). One of the purposes of the paper is to characterize collections of numbers \(\{D_{i,j}\}_{i,j=1}^n\) and \(\{D_{i,j,k}\}_{i,j,k=1}^n\) which can be obtained in the described way. Another purpose is to suggest a modified version of the algorithm of \textit{N. Saitou} and \textit{M. Nei} [Mol. Biol. Evol. 4(4), 406--425 (1987)], whose purpose is to reconstruct a tree from given \(\{D_{i,j}\}_{i,j=1}^n\).