K-Regular Matroids

<p>The class of matroids representable over all fields is the class of regular matroids. The class of matroids representable over all fields except perhaps GF(2) is the class of near-regular matroids. Let k be a non-negative integer. This thesis considers the class of k-regular matroids, a generalization of the last two classes. Indeed, the classes of regular and near-regular matroids coincide with the classes of 0-regular and 1-regular matroids, respectively. This thesis extends many results for regular and near-regular matroids. In particular, for all k, the class of k-regular matroids is precisely the class of matroids representable over a particular partial field. Every 3-connected member of the classes of either regular or near-regular matroids has a unique representability property. This thesis extends this property to the 3-connected members of the class of k-regular matroids for all k. A matroid is [omega] -regular if it is k-regular for some k. It is shown that, for all k [greater than or equal to] 0, every 3-connected k-regular matroid is uniquely representable over the partial field canonically associated with the class of [omega] -regular matroids. To prove this result, the excluded-minor characterization of the class of k-regular matroids within the class of [omega] -regular matroids is first proved. It turns out that, for all k, there are a finite number of [omega] -regular excluded minors for the class of k-regular matroids. The proofs of the last two results on k-regular matroids are closely related. The result referred to next is quite different in this regard. The thesis determines, for all r and all k, the maximum number of points that a simple rank-r k-regular matroid can have and identifies all such matroids having this number. This last result generalizes the corresponding results for regular and near-regular matroids. Some of the main results for k-regular matroids are obtained via a matroid operation that is a generalization of the operation of [Delta] - Y exchange. This operation is called segment-cosegment exchange and, like the operation of [Delta] - Y exchange, has a dual operation. This thesis defines the generalized operation and its dual, and identifies many of their attractive properties. One property in particular, is that, for a partial field P, the set of excluded minors for representability over P is closed under the operations of segment-cosegment exchange and its dual. This result generalizes the corresponding result for [Delta] - Y and Y - [Delta] exchanges. Moreover, a consequence of it is that, for a prime power q, the number of excluded minors for GF(q)-representability is at least 2q-4.</p>

K-Regular Matroids

<p>The class of matroids representable over all fields is the class of regular matroids. The class of matroids representable over all fields except perhaps GF(2) is the class of near-regular matroids. Let k be a non-negative integer. This thesis considers the class of k-regular matroids, a generalization of the last two classes. Indeed, the classes of regular and near-regular matroids coincide with the classes of 0-regular and 1-regular matroids, respectively. This thesis extends many results for regular and near-regular matroids. In particular, for all k, the class of k-regular matroids is precisely the class of matroids representable over a particular partial field. Every 3-connected member of the classes of either regular or near-regular matroids has a unique representability property. This thesis extends this property to the 3-connected members of the class of k-regular matroids for all k. A matroid is [omega] -regular if it is k-regular for some k. It is shown that, for all k [greater than or equal to] 0, every 3-connected k-regular matroid is uniquely representable over the partial field canonically associated with the class of [omega] -regular matroids. To prove this result, the excluded-minor characterization of the class of k-regular matroids within the class of [omega] -regular matroids is first proved. It turns out that, for all k, there are a finite number of [omega] -regular excluded minors for the class of k-regular matroids. The proofs of the last two results on k-regular matroids are closely related. The result referred to next is quite different in this regard. The thesis determines, for all r and all k, the maximum number of points that a simple rank-r k-regular matroid can have and identifies all such matroids having this number. This last result generalizes the corresponding results for regular and near-regular matroids. Some of the main results for k-regular matroids are obtained via a matroid operation that is a generalization of the operation of [Delta] - Y exchange. This operation is called segment-cosegment exchange and, like the operation of [Delta] - Y exchange, has a dual operation. This thesis defines the generalized operation and its dual, and identifies many of their attractive properties. One property in particular, is that, for a partial field P, the set of excluded minors for representability over P is closed under the operations of segment-cosegment exchange and its dual. This result generalizes the corresponding result for [Delta] - Y and Y - [Delta] exchanges. Moreover, a consequence of it is that, for a prime power q, the number of excluded minors for GF(q)-representability is at least 2q-4.</p>

Regular Matroids Have Polynomial Extension Complexity

We prove that the extension complexity of the independence polytope of every regular matroid on [Formula: see text] elements is [Formula: see text]. Past results of Wong and Martin on extended formulations of the spanning tree polytope of a graph imply a [Formula: see text] bound for the special case of (co)graphic matroids. However, the case of a general regular matroid was open, despite recent attempts. We also consider the extension complexity of circuit dominants of regular matroids, for which we give a [Formula: see text] bound.

Circuit-Difference Matroids

One characterization of binary matroids is that the symmetric difference of every pair of intersecting circuits is a disjoint union of circuits. This paper considers circuit-difference matroids, that is, those matroids in which the symmetric difference of every pair of intersecting circuits is a single circuit. Our main result shows that a connected regular matroid is circuit-difference if and only if it contains no pair of skew circuits. Using a result of Pfeil, this enables us to explicitly determine all regular circuit-difference matroids. The class of circuit-difference matroids is not closed under minors, but it is closed under series minors. We characterize the infinitely many excluded series minors for the class.

GEOMETRIC BIJECTIONS FOR REGULAR MATROIDS, ZONOTOPES, AND EHRHART THEORY

Let $M$ be a regular matroid. The Jacobian group $\text{Jac}(M)$ of $M$ is a finite abelian group whose cardinality is equal to the number of bases of $M$ . This group generalizes the definition of the Jacobian group (also known as the critical group or sandpile group) $\operatorname{Jac}(G)$ of a graph $G$ (in which case bases of the corresponding regular matroid are spanning trees of $G$ ). There are many explicit combinatorial bijections in the literature between the Jacobian group of a graph $\text{Jac}(G)$ and spanning trees. However, most of the known bijections use vertices of $G$ in some essential way and are inherently ‘nonmatroidal’. In this paper, we construct a family of explicit and easy-to-describe bijections between the Jacobian group of a regular matroid $M$ and bases of $M$ , many instances of which are new even in the case of graphs. We first describe our family of bijections in a purely combinatorial way in terms of orientations; more specifically, we prove that the Jacobian group of $M$ admits a canonical simply transitive action on the set ${\mathcal{G}}(M)$ of circuit–cocircuit reversal classes of $M$ , and then define a family of combinatorial bijections $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D70E},\unicode[STIX]{x1D70E}^{\ast }}$ between ${\mathcal{G}}(M)$ and bases of $M$ . (Here $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70E}$ (respectively $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70E}^{\ast }$ ) is an acyclic signature of the set of circuits (respectively cocircuits) of $M$ .) We then give a geometric interpretation of each such map $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}=\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D70E},\unicode[STIX]{x1D70E}^{\ast }}$ in terms of zonotopal subdivisions which is used to verify that $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}$ is indeed a bijection. Finally, we give a combinatorial interpretation of lattice points in the zonotope $Z$ ; by passing to dilations we obtain a new derivation of Stanley’s formula linking the Ehrhart polynomial of $Z$ to the Tutte polynomial of $M$ .