Random minimum spanning tree and dense graph limits

A theorem of Frieze from 1985 asserts that the total weight of the minimum spanning tree of the complete graph $K_n$ whose edges get independent weights from the distribution $UNIFORM[0,1]$ converges to Apéry’s constant in probability, as $n\to \mathrm{\infty }$. We generalize this result to sequences of graphs $G_n$ that converge to a graphon $W$. Further, we allow the weights of the edges to be drawn from different distributions (subject to moderate conditions). The limiting total weight $\kappa (W)$ of the minimum spanning tree is expressed in terms of a certain branching process defined on $W$, which was studied previously by Bollobás, Janson and Riordan in connection with the giant component in inhomogeneous random graphs.