On the comparison of incompatibility of split systems across different numbers of taxa

Abstract

The concept of $k$-compatibility measures how many phylogenetic trees it would take to display all splits in a given set. A set of trees that display every single possible split is termed a \textit{universal tree set}. In this note, we find $A(n)$, the minimal size of a universal tree set for $n$ taxa. By normalising the $k$-compatibility using $A(n)$, one can then compare incompatibility of split systems across different taxa sizes. We demonstrate this application by comparing two SplitsTree networks of different sizes derived from archaeal genomes.