Related papers: Unavoidable Minors of Matroids with Minimum Cocirc…

We prove that for any circle graph $H$ with at least one edge and for any positive integer $k$, there exists an integer $t=t(k,H)$ so that every graph $G$ either has a vertex-minor isomorphic to the disjoint union of $k$ copies of $H$, or…

The first non-obvious case of Hadwiger's Conjecture states that every graph $G$ with chromatic number at least 4 has a $K_4$ minor. We give a new proof that derives the $K_4$ minor from a proper 3-coloring of a subgraph of $G$.

It is well known that every sufficiently large connected graph has, as an induced subgraph, $K_n$, $K_{1,n}$, or an $n$-vertex path. A 2023 paper of Allred, Ding, and Oporowski identified a set of unavoidable induced subgraphs of…

A theorem of Tutte states that every 4-connected non-hamiltonian graph contains $K_{3,3}$ as a minor. We strengthen this result by proving that such a graph must contain $K_{3,4}$ as a minor, thereby confirming a special case of a…

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…

We show that the class of bicircular matroids has only a finite number of excluded minors. Key tools used in our proof include representations of matroids by biased graphs and the recently introduced class of quasi-graphic matroids. We show…

Let $EX[M_1\dots, M_k]$ denote the class of binary matroids with no minors isomorphic to $M_1, \dots, M_k$. In this paper we give a decomposition theorem for $EX[S_{10}, S_{10}^*]$, where $S_{10}$ is a certain 10-element rank-4 matroid. As…

For a matroid $M$, an element $e$ such that both $M\backslash e$ and $M/e$ are regular is called a regular element of $M$. We determine completely the structure of non-regular matroids with at least two regular elements. Besides four small…

Every minor-closed class of matroids of bounded branch-width can be characterized by a list of excluded minors, but unlike graphs, this list may need to be infinite in general. However, for each fixed finite field $\mathbb F$, the list…

A parallel minor is obtained from a graph by any sequence of edge contractions and parallel edge deletions. We prove that, for any positive integer k, every internally 4-connected graph of sufficiently high order contains a parallel minor…

In this paper, we investigate three problems concerning the toric ideal associated to a matroid. Firstly, we list all matroids $\mathcal M$ such that its corresponding toric ideal $I_{\mathcal M}$ is a complete intersection. Secondly, we…

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…

Let ${\bf A}={\bf A}_{n,m,k}$ be a random $n\times m$ matrix over $\mathbf{GF}_2$ wher each column consists of $k$ randomly chosen ones. Let $M$ be an arbirary fixed binary matroid. We show that if $m/n$ and $k$ are sufficiently large then…

Mayhew and Royle (2008) showed that there are 564 excluded minors for the class of GF(5)-representable matroids having at most 9 elements. We enumerate the excluded minors for GF(5)-representable matroids having 10 elements: there are…

Let $M$ be a $3$-connected matroid. A pair $\{e,f\}$ in $M$ is detachable if $M \backslash e \backslash f$ or $M / e / f$ is $3$-connected. Williams (2015) proved that if $M$ has at least 13 elements, then at least one of the following…

Let M and N be internally 4-connected binary matroids such that M has a proper N-minor, and |E(N)| is at least seven. As part of our project to develop a splitter theorem for internally 4-connected binary matroids, we prove the following…

DeVos et al conjectured that if $M$ is a simple, regular matroid and $c$ is a colouring of the elements of $M$ with $r(M)+1$ colours, where each colour class has at least two elements, then $M$ contains a rainbow circuit of size at most…

Hadwiger's Conjecture from 1943 states that every graph with no $K_{t}$ minor is $(t-1)$-colorable; it remains wide open for all $t\ge 7$. For positive integers $t$ and $s$, let $\mathcal{K}_t^{-s}$ denote the family of graphs obtained from…

Given a simple Eulerian binary matroid $M$, what is the minimum number of disjoint circuits necessary to decompose $M$? We prove that $|M| / (\operatorname{rank}(M) + 1)$ many circuits suffice if $M = \mathbb F_2^n \setminus \{0\}$ is the…

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…