Related papers: Serial Exchanges in Random Bases

We prove a new exchange property for bases of a matroid that generalizes the multiple symmetric exchange property. For every bases $B_1,\dots,B_k$ of a matroid and a subset $A_1\subset B_1$ there exist subsets $A_2\subset…

We study some properties of a serial (i.e. one-by-one) symmetric exchange of elements of two disjoint bases of a matroid. We show that any two elements of one base have a serial symmetric exchange with some two elements of the other base.…

The multiple exchange property for matroid bases states that for any bases $A$ and $B$ of a matroid and any subset $X\subseteq A\setminus B$, there exists a subset $Y\subseteq B\setminus A$ such that both $A-X+Y$ and $B+X-Y$ are bases. This…

The way circuits, relative to a basis, are affected as a result of exchanging a basis element, is studied. As consequences, it is shown that three consecutive symmetric exchanges exist for any two bases of a matroid, and that a full serial…

In recent years, combinatorial reconfiguration problems have attracted great attention due to their connection to various topics such as optimization, counting, enumeration, or sampling. One of the most intriguing open questions concerns…

We show that if the ground set of a matroid can be partitioned into $k\ge 2$ bases, then for any given subset $S$ of the ground set, there is a partition into $k$ bases such that the sizes of the intersections of the bases with $S$ may…

Two pairs of disjoint bases $\mathbf{P}_1=(R_1,B_1)$ and $\mathbf{P}_2=(R_2,B_2)$ of a matroid $M$ are called equivalent if $\mathbf{P}_1$ can be transformed into $\mathbf{P}_2$ by a series of symmetric exchanges. In 1980, White conjectured…

The problem of covering the ground set of two matroids by a minimum number of common independent sets is notoriously hard even in very restricted settings, i.e.\ when the goal is to decide if two common independent sets suffice or not.…

An open problem in convex geometry asks whether two simplices $A,B\subseteq\mathbb{R}^d$, both containing the origin in their convex hulls, admit a polynomial-length sequence of vertex exchanges transforming $A$ into $B$ while maintaining…

For a matroid with an ordered (or "labelled") basis, a basis exchange step removes one element with label $l$ and replaces it by a new element that results in a new basis, and with the new element assigned label $l$. We prove that one…

The basis exchange axiom has been a driving force in the development of matroid theory. However, the axiom gives only a local characterization of the relation of bases, which is a major stumbling block to further progress, and providing a…

White's conjecture asserts that any two tuples of matroid bases that have the same multi-set union can be transformed from one to another by symmetric exchanges; it also implies that the toric ideals of matroids are generated by the…

The effect of replacing a basis element on the way the basis spans other elements is studied. This leads to a new characterization of binary matroids.

In 1989, Rota conjectured that, given $n$ bases $B_1,\dots,B_n$ of the vector space $\mathbb{F}^n$ over some field $\mathbb{F}$, one can always decompose the multi-set $B_1\cup \dots \cup B_n$ into transversal bases. This conjecture remains…

Let $\mathcal B=\mathcal B_{k,n,p}$ be a random collection of $k$-subsets of $[n]$ where each possible set is present independently with probability $p$. Let $\cal E_{\mathcal B}$ be the event that $\mathcal B$ defines the set of bases of a…

Let $X=(x_{ij})$ and $Y=(y_{ij})$ be generic $n$ by $n$ matrices and $Z=XY-YX$. Let $S=k[x_{11},...,x_{nn},y_{11},...,y_{nn}]$, where $k$ is a field, let $I$ be the ideal generated by the entries of $Z$ and let $R=S/I$. We give a conjecture…

For a pair of real or complex scattering potentials $v_j:\mathbb{R}\to\mathbb{C}$ ($j=1,2$) with support $I_j$ and transfer matrix $M_j$, the transfer matrix of $v_1+v_2$ is given by the product $M_2 M_1$ provided that $I_1$ lies to the…

Let $(X_1,\ldots,X_n)$ be an exchangeable random vector with distribution function $F$, and denote by $Y_1\leq \cdots\leq Y_n$ the corresponding order statistics. We show that the conditional distribution of $(X_1,\ldots,X_n)$ given…

A matroid M is cyclically orderable if there is a cyclic permutation of the elements of M such that any r consecutive elements form a basis in M. An old conjecture of Kajitani, Miyano, and Ueno states that a matroid M is cyclically…

There is a long list of open questions rooted in the same underlying problem: understanding the structure of bases or common bases of matroids. These conjectures suggest that matroids may possess much stronger structural properties than are…