Related papers: Matroid 3-connectivity and branch width

We use the theory of oriented matroids to show that any linear embedding of $K_9$, the complete graph on nine vertices, contains a non-split link with three components.

We characterise the following property by six obstructions: given a graphic matroid $M$ and a set $X$ of its elements, when is $M$ the cycle matroid of a graph $G$ such that $X$ is a connected edge set in $G$?

Let $M$ be an excluded minor for the class of $\mathbb{P}$-representable matroids for some partial field $\mathbb{P}$, let $N$ be a $3$-connected strong $\mathbb{P}$-stabilizer that is non-binary, and suppose $M$ has a pair of elements…

Mader conjectured that for any tree $T$ of order $m$, every $k$-connected graph $G$ with minimum degree at least $\lfloor\frac{3k}{2}\rfloor +m-1$ contains a subtree $T'\cong T$ such that $G-V(T')$ is $k$-connected. In this paper, we give a…

Let $M$ be an internally $4$-connected binary matroid with every element in three triangles. Then $M$ has at least four elements $e$ such that si$(M/e)$ is internally 4-connected.

Let ${\bf A}={\bf A}_{n,m,k}$ be a random $n\times m$ matrix over $\mathbf{GF}_2$ wher each column consists of $k$ randomly chosen ones. Let $M$ be an arbirary fixed binary matroid. We show that if $m/n$ and $k$ are sufficiently large then…

We consider the rank reduction problem for matroids: Given a matroid M and an integer k, find a minimum size subset of elements of M whose removal reduces the rank of M by at least k. When M is a graphical matroid this problem is the…

A three-tope committee K* for a simple oriented matroid M is a 3-subset of its maximal covectors such that every positive halfspace of M contains at least two topes from K*. We consider three-tope committees as the vertex sets of triangles…

Every minor-closed class of matroids of bounded branch-width can be characterized by a list of excluded minors, but unlike graphs, this list may need to be infinite in general. However, for each fixed finite field $\mathbb F$, the list…

If $M$ is a matroid, then a simple matroid $M'$ with the same rank as $M$ is an adjoint of $M$ if there is an inclusion-reversing embedding $\phi$ of the lattice of flats of $M$ into the lattice of flats of $M'$ such that $\phi$ maps the…

We prove that every connected graph $G$ with $m$ edges contains a set $X$ of at most $\frac{3}{16}(m + 1)$ vertices such that $G-X$ has no $K_4$ minor, or equivalently, has treewidth at most $2$. This bound is best possible. Connectivity is…

We establish the following splitter theorem for graphs and its generalization for matroids: Let $G$ and $H$ be $3$-connected simple graphs such that $G$ has an $H$-minor and $k:=|V(G)|-|V(H)|\ge 2$. Let $n:=\left\lceil k/2\right\rceil+1$.…

We show there exists a linear embedding of $K_{3,3,1}$ with n nontrivial 2-component links if and only if n = 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5.

A flat cover is a collection of flats identifying the non-bases of a matroid. We introduce the notion of cover complexity, the minimal size of such a flat cover, as a measure for the complexity of a matroid, and present bounds on the number…

Let $M$ be a $3$-connected matroid. A pair $\{e,f\}$ in $M$ is detachable if $M \backslash e \backslash f$ or $M / e / f$ is $3$-connected. Williams (2015) proved that if $M$ has at least 13 elements, then at least one of the following…

A theorem of Tutte states that every 4-connected non-hamiltonian graph contains $K_{3,3}$ as a minor. We strengthen this result by proving that such a graph must contain $K_{3,4}$ as a minor, thereby confirming a special case of a…

For a matroid $M$ of rank $r$ on $n$ elements, let $b(M)$ denote the fraction of bases of $M$ among the subsets of the ground set with cardinality $r$. We show that $$\Omega(1/n)\leq 1-b(M)\leq O(\log(n)^3/n)\text{ as }n\rightarrow \infty$$…

If S is a set of matroids, then the matroid M is S-fragile if, for every element e in E(M), either M\e or M/e has no minor isomorphic to a member of S. Excluded-minor characterizations often depend, implicitly or explicitly, on…

Our splitter theorem for internally 4-connected binary matroids studies pairs of the form (M,N), where N and M are internally 4-connected binary matroids, M has a proper N-minor, and if M' is an internally 4-connected matroid such that M…

We prove that, for every positive integer k, there is an integer N such that every 4-connected non-planar graph with at least N vertices has a minor isomorphic to K_{4,k}, the graph obtained from a cycle of length 2k+1 by adding an edge…