Infinite matroids in graphs

It has recently been shown that infinite matroids can be axiomatized in a way that is very similar to finite matroids and permits duality. This was previously thought impossible, since finitary infinite matroids must have non-finitary duals. In this paper we illustrate the new theory by exhibiting its implications for the cycle and bond matroids of infinite graphs. We also describe their algebraic cycle matroids, those whose circuits are the finite cycles and double rays, and determine their duals. Finally, we give a sufficient condition for a matroid to be representable in a sense adapted to infinite matroids. Which graphic matroids are representable in this sense remains an open question.Comment: Figure correcte

Axioms for infinite matroids

We give axiomatic foundations for non-finitary infinite matroids with duality, in terms of independent sets, bases, circuits, closure and rank. This completes the solution to a problem of Rado of 1966.Comment: 33 pp., 2 fig

Infinite Matroids and Determinacy of Games

Solving a problem of Diestel and Pott, we construct a large class of infinite matroids. These can be used to provide counterexamples against the natural extension of the Well-quasi-ordering-Conjecture to infinite matroids and to show that the class of planar infinite matroids does not have a universal matroid. The existence of these matroids has a connection to Set Theory in that it corresponds to the Determinacy of certain games. To show that our construction gives matroids, we introduce a new very simple axiomatization of the class of countable tame matroids

Matrices of forests, analysis of networks, and ranking problems

The matrices of spanning rooted forests are studied as a tool for analysing the structure of networks and measuring their properties. The problems of revealing the basic bicomponents, measuring vertex proximity, and ranking from preference relations / sports competitions are considered. It is shown that the vertex accessibility measure based on spanning forests has a number of desirable properties. An interpretation for the stochastic matrix of out-forests in terms of information dissemination is given.Comment: 8 pages. This article draws heavily from arXiv:math/0508171. Published in Proceedings of the First International Conference on Information Technology and Quantitative Management (ITQM 2013). This version contains some corrections and addition

Assortment optimisation under a general discrete choice model: A tight analysis of revenue-ordered assortments

The assortment problem in revenue management is the problem of deciding which subset of products to offer to consumers in order to maximise revenue. A simple and natural strategy is to select the best assortment out of all those that are constructed by fixing a threshold revenue $\pi$ and then choosing all products with revenue at least $\pi$. This is known as the revenue-ordered assortments strategy. In this paper we study the approximation guarantees provided by revenue-ordered assortments when customers are rational in the following sense: the probability of selecting a specific product from the set being offered cannot increase if the set is enlarged. This rationality assumption, known as regularity, is satisfied by almost all discrete choice models considered in the revenue management and choice theory literature, and in particular by random utility models. The bounds we obtain are tight and improve on recent results in that direction, such as for the Mixed Multinomial Logit model by Rusmevichientong et al. (2014). An appealing feature of our analysis is its simplicity, as it relies only on the regularity condition. We also draw a connection between assortment optimisation and two pricing problems called unit demand envy-free pricing and Stackelberg minimum spanning tree: These problems can be restated as assortment problems under discrete choice models satisfying the regularity condition, and moreover revenue-ordered assortments correspond then to the well-studied uniform pricing heuristic. When specialised to that setting, the general bounds we establish for revenue-ordered assortments match and unify the best known results on uniform pricing.Comment: Minor changes following referees' comment

A Topological Representation Theorem for Oriented Matroids

We present a new direct proof of a topological representation theorem for oriented matroids in the general rank case. Our proof is based on an earlier rank 3 version. It uses hyperline sequences and the generalized Sch{\"o}nflies theorem. As an application, we show that one can read off oriented matroids from arrangements of embedded spheres of codimension one, even if wild spheres are involved.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figure