Related papers: On the density of matroids omitting a complete-gra…

We show that, if $\alpha > 0$ is a real number, $n \ge 2$ and $\ell \ge 2$ are integers, and $q$ is a prime power, then every simple matroid $M$ of sufficiently large rank, with no $U_{2,\ell}$-minor, no rank-$n$ projective geometry minor…

For a matroid $M$ having $m$ rank-one flats, the density $d(M)$ is $\tfrac{m}{r(M)}$ unless $m = 0$, in which case $d(M)= 0$. A matroid is density-critical if all of its proper minors of non-zero rank have lower density. By a 1965 theorem…

For any positive integer $l$ we prove that if $M$ is a simple matroid with no $(l+2)$-point line as a minor and with sufficiently large rank, then $|E(M)|\le \frac{q^{r(M)}-1}{q-1}$, where $q$ is the largest prime power less than or equal…

For each odd integer $k\ge 5$, we prove that, if $M$ is a simple rank-$r$ binary matroid with no odd circuit of length less than $k$ and with $|M| > k 2^{r-k+1}$, then $M$ is isomorphic to a restriction of the rank-$r$ binary affine…

It has been conjectured that sparse paving matroids will eventually predominate in any asymptotic enumeration of matroids, i.e. that $\lim_{n\rightarrow\infty} s_n/m_n = 1$, where $m_n$ denotes the number of matroids on $n$ elements, and…

For a set of matroids $\mathcal{M}$, let $ex_\mathcal{M}(n)$ be the maximum size of a simple rank-$n$ matroid in $\mathcal{M}$. We prove that, for any finite field $\mathbb{F}$, if $\mathcal{M}$ is a minor-closed class of…

For each positive integer $t$ and each sufficiently large integer $r$, we show that the maximum number of elements of a simple, rank-$r$, $\mathbb C$-representable matroid with no $U_{2,t+3}$-minor is $t{r\choose 2}+r$. We derive this as 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 $$\Omega(1/n)\leq 1-b(M)\leq O(\log(n)^3/n)\text{ as }n\rightarrow \infty$$…

We give new characterizations for the class of uniformly dense matroids and study applications of these characterizations to graphic and real representable matroids. We show that a matroid is uniformly dense if and only if its base polytope…

We show for each positive integer $a$ that, if $\mathcal{M}$ is a minor-closed class of matroids not containing all rank-$(a+1)$ uniform matroids, then there exists an integer $c$ such that either every rank-$r$ matroid in $\mathcal{M}$ can…

For each proper minor-closed subclass $\cM$ of the $\GF(q^2)$-representable matroids containing all simple $\GF(q)$-representable matroids, we give, for all large $r$, a tight upper bound on the number of points in a rank-$r$ matroid in…

The $\mathit{growth\ rate\ function}$ for a nonempty minor-closed class of matroids $\mathcal{M}$ is the function $h_{\mathcal{M}}(n)$ whose value at an integer $n \ge 0$ is defined to be the maximum number of elements in a simple matroid…

We show for each positive integer $a$ that, if $\cM$ is a minor-closed class of matroids not containing all rank-$(a+1)$ uniform matroids, then there exists an integer $n$ such that either every rank-$r$ matroid in $\cM$ can be covered by…

The growth-rate function for a minor-closed class $\mathcal{M}$ of matroids is the function $h$ where, for each non-negative integer $r$, $h(r)$ is the maximum number of elements of a simple matroid in $\mathcal{M}$ with rank at most $r$.…

We prove that there is no polynomial $p(\cdot)$ with the property that a matroid $M$ can be determined to be either a lifted-graphic or frame matroid using at most $p(|M|)$ rank evaluations. This resolves two conjectures of Geelen, Gerards…

Let $\cM$ be a minor-closed class of matroids that does not contain arbitrarily long lines. The growth rate function, $h:\bN\rightarrow \bN$ of $\cM$ is given by $$h(n) = \max(|M|\, : \, M\in \cM, simple, rank-$n$).$$ The Growth Rate…

We prove that for every bipartite graph $H$ and positive integer $s$, the class of $K_{s,s}$-subgraph-free graphs excluding $H$ as a pivot-minor has bounded average degree. Our proof relies on the announced binary matroid structure theorem…

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…

In unpublished work, Geelen proved that a matroid is near-regular if and only if it has no minor isomorphic to: U2,5; U3,5; the Fano plane and its dual; the non-Fano and its dual; the single-element deletion of AG(2,3), its dual, and the…

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 $M$…