  A fundamental problem in network science is the normalization of the
topological or physical distance between vertices, that requires understanding
the range of variation of the unnormalized distances. Here we investigate the
limits of the variation of the physical distance in linear arrangements of the
vertices of trees. In particular, we investigate various problems on the sum of
edge lengths in trees of a fixed size: the minimum and the maximum value of the
sum for specific trees, the minimum and the maximum in classes of trees (bistar
trees and caterpillar trees) and finally the minimum and the maximum for any
tree. We establish some foundations for research on optimality scores for
spatial networks in one dimension.
