Expected lengths of minimum spanning trees for non-identical edge distributions

Abstract

An exact general formula for the expected length of the minimal spanning tree (MST) of a connected (possibly with loops and multiple edges) graph whose edges are assigned lengths according to independent (not necessarily identical) distributed random variables is developed in terms of the multivariate Tutte polynomial (alias Potts model). Our work was inspired by Steele’s formula based on two-variable Tutte polynomial under the model of uniformly identically distributed edge lengths. Applications to wheel graphs and cylinder graphs are given under two types of edge distributions. © 2010 Applied Probability Trust.