Related papers: What is a 4-connected matroid?

The problem of finding the minimum rank of a matrix with a given zero-nonzero pattern has been generalized to a class of matroids associated to the pattern. The fundamental lower bound known as the triangle number still holds in this…

A positroid is an ordered matroid realizable by a real matrix with all nonnegative maximal minors. Postnikov gave a map from ordered matroids to Grassmann necklaces, for which there is a unique positroid in each fiber of the map. Here, we…

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…

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.

Intuitively, a tangle of large order in a graph is a highly-connected part of the graph, and it is known that if a graph has a tangle of large order then it has a large grid minor. Here we show that for any k, if G has a tangle of large…

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…

A partitioned matroid $(M, \{X_1,X_2,\dots,X_n\})$ consists of a matroid $M$ and a partition $\{X_1,X_2,\dots,X_n\}$ of its ground set. As such structures arise frequently in structural matroid theory, this paper introduces a general…

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…

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…

We relate the notion of matroid pathwidth to the minimum trellis state-complexity (which we term trellis-width) of a linear code, and to the pathwidth of a graph. By reducing from the problem of computing the pathwidth of a graph, we show…

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…

We consider the ways in which a 4-tangle T inside a unit cube can be extended outside the cube into a knot or link L. We present two links n(T) and d(T) such that the greatest common divisor of the determinants of these two links always…

The width of a delta-matroid is the difference in size between a maximal and minimal feasible set. We give a Rough Structure Theorem for delta-matroids that admit a twist of width one. We apply this theorem to give an excluded minor…

Adding elements to matroids can be fraught with difficulty. In the V\'amos matroid $V_8$, there are four independent sets $X_1,X_2, X_3,$ and $X_4$ such that $(X_1 \cup X_2,X_3 \cup X_4)$ is a $3$-separation while exactly three of the local…

A {\em connectivity function on} a set $E$ is a function $\lambda:2^E\rightarrow \mathbb R$ such that $\lambda(\emptyset)=0$, that $\lambda(X)=\lambda(E-X)$ for all $X\subseteq E$ and that $\lambda(X\cap Y)+\lambda(X\cup Y)\leq…

We discuss a conjecture of Ingleton on excluded minors for base-orderability, and, extending a result he stated, we prove that infinitely many of the matroids that he identified are excluded minors for base-orderability, as well as for the…

A set function can be extended to the unit cube in various ways; the correlation gap measures the ratio between two natural extensions. This quantity has been identified as the performance guarantee in a range of approximation algorithms…

A flat of a matroid is cyclic if it is a union of circuits. The cyclic flats of a matroid form a lattice under inclusion. We study these lattices and explore matroids from the perspective of cyclic flats. In particular, we show that every…

This paper studies systems of polynomial equations that provide information about orientability of matroids. First, we study systems of linear equations over GF(2), originally alluded to by Bland and Jensen in their seminal paper on weak…

Let $\mathcal M$ be a class of matroids closed under minors and isomorphism. Let $N$ be a matroid in $\mathcal M$ with an exact $k$-separation $(A, B)$. We say $N$ is a $k$-decomposer for $\mathcal M$ having $(A, B)$ as an inducer, if every…