Induced betweenness in order-theoretic trees

Abstract

The ternary relation $B(x,y,z)$ of betweenness states that an element $y$ is between the elements $x$ and $z$, in some sense depending on the considered structure. In a partially ordered set $(N,\leq)$, $B(x,y,z):\Longleftrightarrow x<y<z\vee z<y<x$. The corresponding betweenness structure is $(N,B)$. The class of betweenness structures of linear orders is first-order definable. That of partial orders is monadic second-order definable. An order-theoretic tree is a partial order such that the set of elements larger that any element is linearly ordered and any two elements have an upper-bound. Finite or infinite rooted trees ordered by the ancestor relation are order-theoretic trees. In an order-theoretic tree, we define $B(x,y,z)$ to mean that $x<y<z$ or $z<y<x$ or $x<y\leq x\sqcup z$ or $z<y\leq x\sqcup z$ provided the least upper-bound $x\sqcup z$ of $x$ and $z$ is defined when $x$ and $z$ are incomparable. In a previous article, we established that the corresponding class of betweenness structures is monadic second-order definable.We prove here that the induced substructures of the betweenness structures of the countable order-theoretic trees form a monadic second-order definable class, denoted by IBO. The proof uses a variant of cographs, the partitioned probe cographs, and their known six finite minimal excluded induced subgraphs called the bounds of the class. This proof links two apparently unrelated topics: cographs and order-theoretic trees.However, the class IBO has finitely many bounds, i.e., minimal excluded finite induced substructures. Hence it is first-order definable. The proof of finiteness uses well-quasi-orders and does not provide the finite list of bounds. Hence, the associated first-order defining sentence is not known.