An Algorithm for Geometric Minimum Spanning Trees Requiring Nearly Linear Expected Time

Kenneth L. Clarkson

Abstract: We describe an algorithm for finding a minimum spanning tree of the weighted complete graph induced by a set ofn points in Euclideand-space. The algorithm requires nearly linear expected time for points that are independently uniformly distributed in the unitd-cube. The first step of the algorithm is the spiral search procedure described by Bentleyet al. [BWY82] for finding a supergraph of the MST that hasO(n) edges. (The constant factor in the bound depends ond.) The next step is that of sorting the edges of the supergraph by weight using a radix distribution, or “bucket,” sort. These steps require linear expected time. Finally, Kruskal's algorithm is used with the sorted edges, requiringO(nα(cn, n)) time in the worst case, withc>6. Since the function α(cn, n) grows very slowly, this step requires linear time for all practical purposes. This result improves the previous bestO(n log log*n), and employs a much simpler algorithm. Also, this result demonstrates the robustness of bucket sorting, which requiresO(n) expected time in this case despite the probability dependency between the edge weights.