How many times can two minimum spanning trees cross?

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Authors: Todor Antić, Morteza Saghafian, Maria Saumell, Felix Schröder, Josef Tkadlec, Pável Valtr
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Abstract

Let $P$ be a generic set of $n$ points in the plane, and let $P=R\cup B$ be a coloring of $P$ in two colors. We are interested in the number of crossings between the minimum spanning trees (MSTs) of $R$ and $B$, denoted by $\crossAB(R,B)$. We define the \emph{bicolored MST crossing number} of $P$, denoted by $\cross(P)$, as $\cross(P) = \max_{P= R\cup B}(\crossAB(R,B))$. We prove a linear upper bound for $\cross(P)$ when $P$ is generic. If $P$ is dense or in convex position, we provide linear lower bounds. Lastly, if $P$ is chosen uniformly at random from the unit square and is colored uniformly at random, we prove that the expected value of $\crossAB(R,B)$ is linear.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Computational Geometry and Mesh Generation Complexity and Algorithms in Graphs Advanced Combinatorial Mathematics

Publication details

Journal / source
arXiv (Cornell University)
Publication date
27 January 2026
Document type
Preprint