Group-Based Phylogenetic Models on 3-Sunlet Networks

TL;DR

This paper explores group-based phylogenetic models on 3-sunlet networks, analyzing their geometric properties and deriving a dimension formula for the associated phylogenetic variety in cases where the group order is odd.

Contribution

It introduces a dimension formula for the phylogenetic variety of group-based models on 3-sunlet networks with odd group order, linking geometry to evolutionary modeling.

Findings

Derived a dimension formula for the phylogenetic variety

Analyzed the discrete geometry of the parameter space

Connected geometric properties to evolutionary models

Abstract

Phylogenetic networks describe the evolution of a set of taxa for which reticulate events have occurred at some point in their evolutionary history. Of particular interest is when the evolutionary history between a set of just three taxa has a reticulate event. In molecular phylogenetics, substitution models can model the process of evolution at the genetic level, and the case of three taxa with a reticulate event can be modelled using a substitution model on a mixed graph called a 3-sunlet. We investigate a class of substitution models called group-based phylogenetic models on 3-sunlet networks. In particular, we investigate the discrete geometry of the parameter space and how this relates to the dimension of the phylogenetic variety associated to the model. This enables us to give a dimension formula for this variety for general group-based models when the order of the group is odd.