Related papers: On Density-Critical Matroids

For a simplicial complex ${\mathcal C}$ denote by $\beta({\mathcal C})$ the minimal number of edges from ${\mathcal C}$ needed to cover the ground set. If ${\mathcal C}$ is a matroid then for every partition $A_1, \ldots, A_m$ of the ground…

One of the most intriguing unsolved questions of matroid optimization is the characterization of the existence of $k$ disjoint common bases of two matroids. The significance of the problem is well-illustrated by the long list of conjectures…

If EE is a set of matroids, then ex(EE) denotes the set of matroids that have no minor isomorphic to a member of EE. If EE' is a subset of EE, we say that EE' is /superfluous/ if ex(EE - EE') - ex(EE) contains only finitely many 3-connected…

We show that, for any prime $p$ and integer $k \geq 2$, a simple GF($p$)-representable matroid with sufficiently high rank has a rank-$k$ flat which is either independent in $M$, or is a projective or affine geometry. As a corollary we…

The Splitter Theorem states that, if $N$ is a 3-connected proper minor of a 3-connected matroid $M$ such that, if $N$ is a wheel or whirl then $M$ has no larger wheel or whirl, respectively, then there is a sequence $M_0,..., M_n$ of…

One characterization of binary matroids is that the symmetric difference of every pair of intersecting circuits is a disjoint union of circuits. This paper considers circuit-difference matroids, that is, those matroids in which the…

We investigate the problem of constructing fault-tolerant bases in matroids. Given a matroid M and a redundancy parameter k, a k-fault-tolerant basis is a minimum-size set of elements such that, even after the removal of any k elements, the…

In this paper, we give a complete characterization of binary matroids with no $P_9$-minor. A 3-connected binary matroid $M$ has no $P_9$-minor if and only if $M$ is one of the internally 4-connected non-regular minors of a special…

We prove a new lower bound on the critical density $\rho_c$ of the hard disk model, i.e., the density below which it is possible to efficiently sample random configurations of $n$ non-overlapping disks in a unit torus. We use a classic…

Let $M$ to be a matroid defined on a finite set $E$ and $L\subset E$. $L$ is locked in $M$ if $M|L$ and $M^*|(E\backslash L)$ are 2-connected, and $min\{r(L), r^*(E\backslash L)\} \geq 2$. In this paper, we prove that the nontrivial facets…

We investigate the set of excluded minors of connectivity 2 for the class of frame matroids. We exhibit a list $\mathcal{E}$ of 18 such matroids, and show that if $N$ is such an excluded minor, then either $N \in \mathcal{E}$ or $N$ is a…

A matroid of rank $r$ on $n$ elements is a positroid if it has a representation by an $r$ by $n$ matrix over $\mathbb{R}$, each $r$ by $r$ submatrix of which has nonnegative determinant. Earlier characterizations of connected positroids and…

We prove that for every proper minor-closed class $M$ of matroids representable over a prime field, there exists a constant-competitive matroid secretary algorithm for the matroids in $M$. This result relies on the extremely powerful…

We define an independence system associated with simple graphs. We prove that the independence system is a matroid for certain families of graphs, including trees, with bases as minimal resolving sets. Consequently, the greedy algorithm on…

We call an oriented matroid Mandel if it has an extension in general position which makes all programs with that extension Euclidean. If $L$ is the minimum number of mutations adjacent to an element of the groundset, we call an oriented…

Melchior's inequality implies that the average line-length in a simple, rank-$3$, real-representable matroid is less than $3$. A similar result holds for complex-representable matroids, using Hirzebruch's inequality, but with a weaker bound…

Halin proved that every minimally $k$-connected graph has a vertex of degree $k$. More generally, does every minimally vertically $k$-connected matroid have a $k$-element cocircuit? Results of Murty and Wong give an affirmative answer when…

A real symmetric matrix $M$ is completely positive semidefinite if it admits a Gram representation by (Hermitian) positive semidefinite matrices of any size $d$. The smallest such $d$ is called the (complex) completely positive semidefinite…

In this paper, we introduce the concept of Density-Balanced Subset in a matroid, in which independent sets can be sampled so as to guarantee that (i) each element has the same probability to be sampled, and (ii) those events are negatively…

For all positive integers $\ell$ and $r$, we determine the maximum number of elements of a simple rank-$r$ positroid without the rank-$2$ uniform matroid $U_{2,\ell+2}$ as a minor, and characterize the matroids with the maximum number of…