The random multisection problem, travelling waves and the distribution of the height of m-ary search trees

The purpose of this article is to show that the distribution of the longest fragment in the random multisection problem after k steps and the height of m-ary search trees (and some extensions) are not only closely related in a formal way but both can be asymptotically described with the same distribution function that has to be shifted in a proper way (travelling wave). The crucial property for the proof is a so-called intersection property that transfers inequalities between two distribution functions (resp. of their Laplace transforms) from one level to the next. It is conjectured that such intersection properties hold in a much more general context. If this property is verified convergence to a travelling wave follows almost automatically.