A Markov tree is a random vector indexed by the nodes of a tree whose distribution is determined by the distributions of pairs of neighbouring variables and a list of conditional independence relations. Upon an assumption on the tails of the Markov kernels associated to these pairs, the conditional distribution of the self-normalized random vector when the variable at the root of the tree tends to infinity converges weakly to a random vector of coupled random walks called a tail tree. If, in addition, the conditioning variable has a regularly varying tail, the Markov tree satisfies a form of one-component regular variation. Changing the location of the root, that is, changing the conditioning variable, yields a different tail tree. When the tails of the marginal distributions of the conditioning variables are balanced, these tail trees are connected by a formula that generalizes the time change formula for regularly varying stationary time series. The formula is most easily understood when the various one-component regular variation statements are tied up into a single multi-component statement. The theory of multi-component regular variation is worked out for general random vectors, not necessarily Markov trees, with an eye towards other models, graphical or otherwise.

The problem of inferring the distribution of a random vector given that its norm is large requires modeling a homogeneous limiting density. We suggest an approach based on graphical models which is suitable for high-dimensional vectors. We introduce the notion of one-component regular variation to describe a function that is regularly varying in its first component. We extend the representation and Karamata's theorem to one-component regularly varying functions, probability distributions and densities, and explain why these results are fundamental in multivariate extreme-value theory. We then generalize the Hammersley–Clifford theorem to relate asymptotic conditional independence to a factorization of the limiting density, and use it to model multivariate tails.