Limit theorems for patterns in phylogenetic trees

Abstract

Studying the shape of phylogenetic trees under different random models is an important issue in evolutionary biology. In this paper, we propose a general framework for deriving detailed statistical results for patterns in phylogenetic trees under the Yule-Harding model and the uniform model, two of the most fundamental random models considered in phylogenetics. Our framework will unify several recent studies which were mainly concerned with the mean value and the variance. Moreover, refined statistical results such as central limit theorems, Berry-Esseen bounds, local limit theorems, etc., are obtainable with our approach as well. A key contribution of the current study is that our results are applicable to the whole range of possible sizes of the pattern.