English

Weighted exchange distance of basis pairs

Combinatorics 2022-11-24 v1 Discrete Mathematics

Abstract

Two pairs of disjoint bases P1=(R1,B1)\mathbf{P}_1=(R_1,B_1) and P2=(R2,B2)\mathbf{P}_2=(R_2,B_2) of a matroid MM are called equivalent if P1\mathbf{P}_1 can be transformed into P2\mathbf{P}_2 by a series of symmetric exchanges. In 1980, White conjectured that such a sequence always exists whenever R1B1=R2B2R_1\cup B_1=R_2\cup B_2. A strengthening of the conjecture was proposed by Hamidoune, stating that minimum length of an exchange is at most the rank of the matroid. We propose a weighted variant of Hamidoune's conjecture, where the weight of an exchange depends on the weights of the exchanged elements. We prove the conjecture for several matroid classes: strongly base orderable matroids, split matroids, graphic matroids of wheels, and spikes.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2211.12750,
  title  = {Weighted exchange distance of basis pairs},
  author = {Kristóf Bérczi and Bence Mátravölgyi and Tamás Schwarcz},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2211.12750},
  year   = {2022}
}

Comments

20 pages, 5 figures