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Simplicial Trees and Group Actions - Examples
1 · Prerequisites
- Binary Operations, Monoids, Groups and Subgroups
- Cayley Graphs, Word Metrics and Quasi-Isometry
- Construction of the Natural Numbers
- Construction of the Real Numbers via Cauchy Sequences
- Construction of the Real Numbers via Dedekind Cuts
- Countability and Uncountability
- Finite Counting, Factorials and Binomial Coefficients
- Foundations of the Real Numbers for Analysis
- Free Groups and Presentations
- Graphs, Walks and Connectivity
- Group Actions, Orbits, Stabilisers and Cayley's Theorem
- Metric Spaces
- Relations, Functions, and Quotients
- Roots, Rational Powers, and Classical Inequalities
- Simplicial Trees and Group Actions
- Suprema and Infima
- The ZFC Axioms and the Basic Set Constructions
- Trees, Forests and Spanning Trees
2 · Summary
These examples pin the abstract tree-action language to standard models: the bi-infinite line, free-group Cayley trees, a reflected edge, and one finite symmetry example. The final counterexample shows why quotient graphs need not stay trees.
3 · Logical flowchart
4 · Definitions, theorems and proofs
None yet.
5 · Examples, counterexamples and false statements
The bi-infinite line and its translation action
Example
Let have vertex set and one geometric edge between and for each . Then is a simplicial tree, and translation is a hyperbolic automorphism with axis itself and translation length .
Facts & Assumptions
Given: The bi-infinite line and the translation .
Translation length is the minimum displacement on the vertex set. (The translation length of a tree automorphism without inversions)
A hyperbolic automorphism preserves a unique axis and translates along it by its translation length. (Tree automorphisms without inversions are either elliptic or hyperbolic)
Verification
Every two integers are joined in by the obvious consecutive edge path, and no reduced closed path exists, so is a simplicial tree. The map preserves adjacency and has no fixed vertex.
Every vertex moves distance , so [L1] gives . Therefore [L2] places in the hyperbolic case, with axis equal to the whole line .
Regular Cayley trees of free groups
Example
If is a free group with free basis of size , then the undirected Cayley graph of is a tree and every vertex has valence . Orienting each geometric edge in both directions turns it into a simplicial tree.
Facts & Assumptions
Given: A free group with free basis .
The Cayley graph of a free group with respect to a free basis is a tree. (The Cayley graph of a free group with respect to a free basis is a tree)
On finite pieces, the simplicial-tree notion matches the published tree notion. (For finite graphs, the simplicial-tree notion agrees with the published finite-tree notion)
Verification
By [L1], the underlying simple Cayley graph is a tree. Each vertex has one edge labelled by each basis element and by its inverse, so its valence is .
Replacing every geometric edge by the two corresponding orientations does not create a cycle; it only records both directions explicitly. Thus the same graph becomes a simplicial tree, in agreement with the finite bridge principle [L2].
An edge inversion and its barycentric subdivision
Example
Let be a single geometric edge with endpoints and , and let the nontrivial element of swap and . This action inverts the unique edge of , but after barycentric subdivision it fixes the midpoint vertex and acts without inversions.
Facts & Assumptions
Given: The reflected one-edge tree.
Barycentric subdivision preserves the tree and removes edge inversions. (Barycentric subdivision removes edge inversions while preserving the tree)
Verification
Before subdivision, the nontrivial element sends the oriented edge to the reverse edge , so there is an inversion.
After subdivision, the midpoint is a vertex fixed by the action, and each half-edge is sent to the other half-edge with the same orientation type rather than to its reverse. This is exactly the mechanism asserted in [L1].
A finite group fixing the centre of a tree
Example
Let be the path with vertices and edges joining consecutive integers. Reflection defines an action of on , and the centre vertex is fixed.
Facts & Assumptions
Given: The path and the reflection action of .
A finite group acting on a tree fixes a vertex after subdivision. (Finite groups acting on trees have a global fixed vertex after subdivision)
Verification
The reflection preserves adjacency and the unique diameter path of , so it is an automorphism of the tree.
Its midpoint is already the vertex , so the fixed vertex promised by [L1] occurs without needing any further subdivision in this example.
Elliptic and hyperbolic automorphisms on the line
Example
On the bi-infinite line, reflection is elliptic and translation is hyperbolic.
Facts & Assumptions
Given: The reflection and translation of the bi-infinite line.
Tree automorphisms without inversions are elliptic exactly when they fix a vertex, and hyperbolic exactly when they preserve a translation axis with positive translation length. (Tree automorphisms without inversions are either elliptic or hyperbolic)
Verification
The reflection fixes the vertex , so [L1] places it in the elliptic case.
The translation has no fixed vertex and preserves the whole line while moving every vertex two steps, so [L1] places it in the hyperbolic case.
A quotient of a tree can have cycles
Statement refuted
The quotient of a simplicial tree by an action without inversions is always a tree.
Facts & Assumptions
Given: The quotient-graph definition and the translation action on the line.
A quotient graph identifies vertices and edges only up to orbit. (The quotient graph of an action without inversions)
Translation by one step on the bi-infinite line is a hyperbolic action on a simplicial tree. (The bi-infinite line and its translation action)
Counterexample
By [L2], the bi-infinite line is a simplicial tree. Let be translation by three steps, so acts without inversions on that tree.
In the quotient graph from [L1], the three vertex orbits are the residue classes modulo , and the edge orbits join them cyclically. The quotient is therefore a -cycle, not a tree. This refutes the statement.