On the length of an external branch in the Beta-coalescent

In this paper, we consider Beta(2−α,α) (with 1<α<2) and related Λ-coalescents. If T(n) denotes the length of a randomly chosen external branch of the n-coalescent, we prove the convergence of nα−1T(n) when n tends to ∞, and give the limit. To this aim, we give asymptotics for the number σ(n) of collisions which occur in the n-coalescent until the end of the chosen external branch, and for the block counting process associated with the n-coalescent.