Related papers: Representability of matroids with a large projecti…
Let $\mathcal M$ be a class of matroids closed under minors and isomorphism. Let $N$ be a matroid in $\mathcal M$ with an exact $k$-separation $(A, B)$. We say $N$ is a $k$-decomposer for $\mathcal M$ having $(A, B)$ as an inducer, if every…
Let $n>1$, $e\geq 0$ and a prime number $p\geq 2^{n+2+2e}+3$, such that the index of regularity of $p$ is $\leq e$. We show that there are infinitely many irreducible Galois representations $\rho: Gal(\bar{\mathbb{Q}}/\mathbb{Q})\rightarrow…
For a natural number $c$, a $c$-arrangement is an arrangement of dimension $c$ subspaces satisfying the following condition: the sum of any subset of the subspaces has dimension a multiple of $c$. Matroids arising as normalized rank…
We say that a linear code C over a field F is triangular representable if there exists a two dimensional simplicial complex $\Delta$ such that C is a punctured code of the kernel ker $\Delta$ of the incidence matrix of $\Delta$ over F and…
Over a finite field $\mathbb{F}_{q^m}$, the evaluation of skew polynomials is intimately related to the evaluation of linearized polynomials. This connection allows one to relate the concept of polynomial independence defined for skew…
We classify the possibilities for the fixed field of the kernel of an irreducible three-dimensional Artin representation of $\Q$ with solvable image ramified at one prime by using the classification of the finite irreducible subgroups of…
Let the columns of a $p \times q$ matrix $M$ over any ring be partitioned into $n$ blocks, $M = [M_1, ..., M_n]$. If no $p \times p$ submatrix of $M$ with columns from distinct blocks $M_i$ is invertible, then there is an invertible $p…
Suppose that $f$ is a homomorphism from the mapping class group $\mathcal{M}(N_{g,n})$ of a nonorientable surface of genus $g$ with $n$ boundary components, to $\mathrm{GL}(m,\mathbb{C})$. We prove that if $g\ge 5$, $n\le 1$ and $m\le g-2$,…
In this paper we prove the existence of a complete cap of ${\rm PG}(4n+1, q)$ of size $2(q^{2n+1}-1)/(q-1)$, for each prime power $q>2$. It is obtained by projecting two disjoint Veronese varieties of ${\rm PG}(2n^2+3n, q)$ from a suitable…
Take a prime power $q$, an integer $n\geq 2$, and a coordinate subspace $S\subseteq GF(q)^n$ over the Galois field $GF(q)$. One can associate with $S$ an $n$-partite $n$-uniform clutter $\mathcal{C}$, where every part has size $q$ and there…
We study number theoretic properties of the map $x \mapsto x^{x} \mod{p}$, where $x \in \{1,2,\ldots,p-1\}$, and improve on some recent upper bounds, due to Kurlberg, Luca, and Shparlinski, on the number of primes $p < N$ for which the map…
Given a 3-connected biased graph $\Omega$ with a balancing vertex, and with frame matroid $F(\Omega)$ nongraphic and 3-connected, we determine all biased graphs $\Omega'$ with $F(\Omega') = F(\Omega)$. As a consequence, we show that if $M$…
We show that the Ree unital $\mathcal{R}(q)$ has an embedding in a projective plane over a field $F$ if and only if $q=3$ and $\mathbb{F}_8$ is a subfield of $F$. In this case, the embedding is unique up to projective linear…
For an $n \times n$ matrix $M$ with entries in $\mathbb{Z}_2$ denote by $R(M)$ the minimal rank of all the matrices obtained by changing some numbers on the main diagonal of $M$. We prove that for each non-negative integer $k$ there is a…
We show that the class of bicircular matroids has only a finite number of excluded minors. Key tools used in our proof include representations of matroids by biased graphs and the recently introduced class of quasi-graphic matroids. We show…
We give a new proof, along with some generalizations, of a folklore theorem (attributed to Laurent Lafforgue) that a rigid matroid (i.e., a matroid with indecomposable basis polytope) has only finitely many projective equivalence classes of…
A super-minimally $k$-connected matroid is a $k$-connected matroid having no proper $k$-connected restriction of size at least $2k-2$. This extends the corresponding concept for graphs. For $k=2$ and $k=3$, we determine the maximum size of…
Let $M$ be a 3-connected binary matroid and let $Y(M)$ be the set of elements of $M$ avoiding at least $r(M)+1$ non-separating cocircuits of $M$. Lemos proved that $M$ is non-graphic if and only if $Y(M)\neq\emp$. We generalize this result…
We show that the number of linear spaces on a set of $n$ points and the number of rank-3 matroids on a ground set of size $n$ are both of the form $(cn+o(n))^{n^2/6}$, where $c=e^{\sqrt 3/2-3}(1+\sqrt 3)/2$. This is the final piece of the…
In this paper we prove the following theorem. Let L/\Q_p be a finite extension with ring of integers O_L and maximal ideal lambda. Theorem 1. Suppose that p >= 5. Suppose also that \rho:G_\Q -> GL_2(O_L) is a continuous representation…