The scaling limit of random 2-connected series-parallel maps

Abstract

A finite graph embedded in the plane is called a series-parallel map if it can be obtained from a finite tree by repeatedly subdividing and doubling edges. We study the scaling limit of weighted random two-connected series-parallel maps with $n$ edges and show that under some integrability conditions on these weights, the maps with distances rescaled by a factor $n^{-1/2}$ converge to a constant multiple of Aldous' continuum random tree (CRT) in the Gromov--Hausdorff sense. The proof relies on a bijection between a set of trees with $n$ leaves and a set of series-parallel maps with $n$ edges, which enables one to compare geodesics in the maps and in the corresponding trees via a Markov chain argument introduced by Curien, Haas and Kortchemski (2015).