English

On Seymour's Decomposition Theorem

Combinatorics 2015-09-16 v1

Abstract

Let M\mathcal M be a class of matroids closed under minors and isomorphism. Let NN be a matroid in M\mathcal M with an exact kk-separation (A,B)(A, B). We say NN is a kk-decomposer for M\mathcal M having (A,B)(A, B) as an inducer, if every matroid MMM\in \mathcal M having NN as a minor has a kk-separation (X,Y)(X, Y) such that, AXA\subseteq X and BYB\subseteq Y. Seymour [3, 9.1] proved that a matroid NN is a kk-decomposer for an excluded-minor class, if certain conditions are met for all 3-connected matroids MM in the class, where E(M)E(N)2|E(M)-E(N)|\le 2. We reinterpret Seymour's Theorem in terms of the connectivity function and give a check-list that is easier to implement because case-checking is reduced.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1403.7757,
  title  = {On Seymour's Decomposition Theorem},
  author = {S. R. Kingan},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1403.7757},
  year   = {2015}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-22T03:38:22.461Z