Matroids, Delta-matroids and Embedded Graphs
Abstract
Matroid theory is often thought of as a generalization of graph theory. In this paper we propose an analogous correspondence between embedded graphs and delta-matroids. We show that delta-matroids arise as the natural extension of graphic matroids to the setting of embedded graphs. We show that various basic ribbon graph operations and concepts have delta-matroid analogues, and illustrate how the connections between embedded graphs and delta-matroids can be exploited. Also, in direct analogy with the fact that The Tutte polynomial is matroidal, we show that several polynomials of embedded graphs from the literature, including the Las Vergnas, Bollabas-Riordan and Krushkal polynomials, are in fact delta-matroidal.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1403.0920,
title = {Matroids, Delta-matroids and Embedded Graphs},
author = {Carolyn Chun and Iain Moffatt and Steven D. Noble and Ralf Rueckriemen},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1403.0920},
year = {2019}
}
Comments
v2: We have split this paper into two. The later material of version 1 now appears in "On the interplay between embedded graphs and delta-matroids". Some new results have been added