English

Detachable pairs in $3$-connected matroids and simple $3$-connected graphs

Combinatorics 2025-09-15 v2

Abstract

Let MM be a 33-connected matroid. A pair {e,f}\{e,f\} in MM is detachable if M\e\fM \backslash e \backslash f or M/e/fM / e / f is 33-connected. Williams (2015) proved that if MM has at least 13 elements, then at least one of the following holds: MM has a detachable pair, MM has a 33-element circuit or cocircuit, or MM is a spike. We address the case where MM has a 33-element circuit or cocircuit, to obtain a characterisation of when a matroid with at least 13 elements has a detachable pair. As a consequence, we characterise when a simple 33-connected graph GG with E(G)13|E(G)| \ge 13 has a pair of edges {e,f}\{e,f\} such that G/e/fG/e/f or G\e\fG \backslash e\backslash f is simple and 33-connected.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2409.13834,
  title  = {Detachable pairs in $3$-connected matroids and simple $3$-connected graphs},
  author = {Nick Brettell and Charles Semple and Gerry Toft},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2409.13834},
  year   = {2025}
}