Related papers: What is a 4-connected matroid?

Let $M$ be a 3-connected matroid, and let $N$ be a 3-connected minor of $M$. A pair $\{x_1,x_2\} \subseteq E(M)$ is $N$-detachable if one of the matroids $M/x_1/x_2$ or $M \backslash x_1 \backslash x_2$ is both 3-connected and has an…

Let $M$ be a 3-connected matroid, and let $N$ be a 3-connected minor of $M$. A pair $\{x_1,x_2\} \subseteq E(M)$ is $N$-detachable if one of the matroids $M/x_1/x_2$ or $M \backslash x_1 \backslash x_2$ is both 3-connected and has an…

In this note we investigate some matroid minor structure results. In particular, we present sufficient conditions, in terms of {\em triangles}, for a matroid to have either $U_{2,4}$ or $F_7$ or $M(K_5)$ as a minor.

Let AG(3,2)xU(1,1) denote the binary matroid obtained from the direct sum of AG(3,2) and a coloop by completing the 3-point lines between every element in AG(3,2) and the coloop. We prove that every internally 4-connected binary matroid…

We prove that if M is a vertically 4-connected matroid with a modular flat X of rank at least three, then every representation of M | X over a finite field F extends to a unique F-representation of M. A corollary is that when F has order q,…

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…

In 1963, Halin and Jung proved that every simple graph with minimum degree at least four has $K_5$ or $K_{2,2,2}$ as a minor. Mills and Turner proved an analog of this theorem by showing that every $3$-connected binary matroid in which…

Generalizing a well known theorem for finite matroids, we prove that for every (infinite) connected matroid M there is a unique tree T such that the nodes of T correspond to minors of M that are either 3-connected or circuits or cocircuits,…

Brylawski and Seymour independently proved that if $M$ is a connected matroid with a connected minor $N$, and $e \in E(M) - E(N)$, then $M \backslash e$ or $M / e$ is connected having $N$ as a minor. This paper proves an analogous but…

Let $M$ be a representable matroid, and $Q, R, S, T$ subsets of the ground set. We prove that, if $M$ is sufficiently large, then there is an element $e$ such that deleting or contracting $e$ preserves both the $Q$-$R$ and the $S$-$T$…

In this paper we establish a variation of the Splitter Theorem. Let $M$ and $N$ be simple 3-connected matroids. We say that $x\in E(M)$ is vertically $N$-contractible if $si(M/x)$ is a 3-connected matroid with an $N$-minor. Whittle (for…

In earlier work, we characterized the class of matroids with no $M(C_4)$ as an induced minor and the class of matroids with no member of $\{M(C_4),M(K_4)\}$ as an induced minor. In this paper, for every two matroids in…

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 minor-closed class of matroids over a fixed finite field, we state an exact structural characterization for the sufficiently connected matroids in the class. We also state a number of conjectures that might be approachable using the…

Seymour's Splitter Theorem is a basic inductive tool for dealing with $3$-connected matroids. This paper proves a generalization of that theorem for the class of $2$-polymatroids. Such structures include matroids, and they model both sets…

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…

Let $\mathcal{N}$ be a set of matroids. A matroid $M$ is strictly $\mathcal{N}$-fragile if $M$ has a member of $\mathcal{N}$ as minor and, for all $e \in E(M)$, at least one of $M\backslash e$ and $M/e$ has no minor in $\mathcal{N}$. In…

A clutter consists of a finite set and a collection of pairwise incomparable subsets. Clutters are natural generalisations of matroids, and they have similar operations of deletion and contraction. We introduce a notion of connectivity for…

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…

A minor-closed class of matroids is (strongly) fractal if the number of n-element matroids in the class is dominated by the number of n-element excluded minors. We conjecture that when K is an infinite field, the class of K-representable…