Related papers: Towards a Splitter Theorem for Internally $4$-conn…

We introduce and study a natural variant of matroid amalgams. For matroids M(A) and N(B) such that M/(A-B)=N(B-A), we define a splice of M and N to be a matroid L on the union of A and B with L(B-A)=M and L/(A-B)=N. We show that splices…

Fix a matroid N. A matroid M is N-fragile if, for each element e of M, at least one of M\e and M/e has no N-minor. The Bounded Canopy Conjecture is that all GF(q)-representable matroids M that have an N-minor and are N-fragile have branch…

A planar graph is essentially $4$-connected if it is 3-connected and every of its 3-separators is the neighborhood of a single vertex. Jackson and Wormald proved that every essentially 4-connected planar graph $G$ on $n$ vertices contains a…

Every large $k$-connected graph-minor induces a $k$-tangle in its ambient graph. The converse holds for $k\le 3$, but fails for $k\ge 4$. This raises the question whether `$k$-connected' can be relaxed to obtain a characterisation of…

In mathematics and computer science, connectivity is one of the basic concepts of matroid theory: it asks for the minimum number of elements which need to be removed to disconnect the remaining nodes from each other. It is closely related…

We give an excluded-minor characterization for the class of matroids M in which M\e or M/e is binary for all e in E(M). This class is closely related to the class of matroids in which every member is binary or can be obtained from a binary…

Consider a random $n\times m$ matrix $A$ over the finite field of order $q$ where every column has precisely $k$ nonzero elements, and let $M[A]$ be the matroid represented by $A$. In the case that q=2, Cooper, Frieze and Pegden (RS\&A…

We determine the smallest simple triangle-free binary matroids that have no five-element independent flat. This solves a special case of a conjecture of Nelson and Norin.

The classes of even-cycle matroids, even-cycle matroids with a blocking pair, and even-cut matroids each have hundreds of excluded minors. We show that the number of excluded minors for these classes can be drastically reduced if we…

If $n \geq 3$, then moduli space ${\mathcal M}_{0,[n+1]}$, of isomorphisms classes of $(n+1)$-marked spheres, is a complex orbifold of dimension $n-2$. Its branch locus ${\mathcal B}_{0,[n+1]}$ consists of the isomorphism classes of those…

We first prove that for every vertex x of a 4-connected graph G there exists a subgraph H in G isomorphic to a subdivision of the complete graph K4 on four vertices such that G-V(H) is connected and contains x. This implies an affirmative…

Locally repairable codes for distributed storage systems have gained a lot of interest recently, and various constructions can be found in the literature. However, most of the constructions result in either large field sizes and hence too…

We show that a simple rank-$r$ matroid with no $(t+1)$-element independent flat has at least as many elements as the matroid $M_{r,t}$ defined as the direct sum of $t$ binary projective geometries whose ranks pairwise differ by at most $1$.…

A matroid M is unbreakable if it is connected and M/F is connected for every flat F of M . Oxley and Pfeil characterized the unbreakable graphic matroids, and Fife, Mayhew, Oxley, and Semple characterized the graphs underlying 3-connected…

We study a matrix-based notion of matroid representation over local commutative rings obtained by replacing linear independence with modular independence. This construction always defines an independence system, though not necessarily a…

A complete structural characterization of graphs with no $K_{3,4}$ minor is obtained, and the following consequences are established. Every $4$-connected non-planar graph with at least seven vertices and minimum degree at least five…

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…

We show that almost every matroid contains the rank-3 whirl $\mathcal{W}^3$ or the complete-graphic matroid $M(K_4)$ as a minor.

Let $s,n \ge 2$ be integers. We give a qualitative structural description of every matroid $M$ that is spanned by a frame matroid of a complete graph and has no $U_{s,2s}$-minor and no rank-$n$ projective geometry minor, showing that every…

A cut $C:=\partial(X)$ of a matching covered graph $G$ is a separating cut if both its $C$-contractions $G/X$ and $G/\overline{X}$ are also matching covered. A brick is solid if it is free of nontrivial separating cuts. In 2004, we…