Locally finite trees and the topological minor relation

Abstract: A well-known theorem of Nash-Williams shows that the collection of locally finite trees under the topological minor relation results in a BQO. Set theoretically, two very natural questions arise: (1) What is the number

l a m b d a

of topological types of locally finite trees? (2) What are the possible sizes of an equivalence class of locally finite trees? For (1), clearly,

o m e g a l e q l a m b d a l e q m a t h f r a k c

and Matthiesen refined it to

o m e g a_{1} l e q l a m b d a l e q m a t h f r a k c

. Thus, this question becomes non-trivial when the Continuum Hypothesis is not assumed. In this paper we address both questions by showing that - entirely within ZFC - for a large collection of locally finite trees that includes those with countably many rays: the answer for (1) is

l a m b d a = o m e g a_{1}

, and that for (2) the size of an equivalence class can only be either

1

or

m a t h f r a k c

.

This page was built for publication: Locally finite trees and the topological minor relation

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q6286640)