Probability and Real Trees: École d'Été de Probabilités de Saint-Flour XXXV-2005 (Lecture Notes in Mathematics / École d'Été de Probabilités de Saint-Flour)

Random trees and tree-valued stochastic processes are of particular importance in many fields. Using the framework of abstract "tree-like" metric spaces and ideas from metric geometry, Evans and his collaborators have recently pioneered an approach to studying the asymptotic behavior of such objects when the number of vertices goes to infinity. This publication surveys the relevant mathematical background and present some selected applications of the theory.