Finding thek smallest spanning trees

We give improved solutions for the problem of generating thek smallest spanning trees in a graph and in the plane. Our algorithm for general graphs takes timeO(m log(m, n)=k ²); for planar graphs this bound can be improved toO(n+k ²). We also show that thek best spanning trees for a set of points in the plane can be computed in timeO(min(k ² n+n logn,k ²+kn log(n/k))). Thek best orthogonal spanning trees in the plane can be found in timeO(n logn+kn log log(n/k)+k ²).