On two conjectures of Maurer concerning basis graphs of matroids

We characterize 2-dimensional complexes associated canonically with basis graphs of matroids as simply connected triangle-square complexes satisfying some local conditions. This proves a version of a (disproved) conjecture by Stephen Maurer (Conjecture 3 of S. Maurer, Matroid basis graphs I, JCTB 14 (1973), 216-240). We also establish Conjecture 1 from the same paper about the redundancy of the conditions in the characterization of basis graphs. We indicate positive-curvature-like aspects of the local properties of the studied complexes. We characterize similarly the corresponding 2-dimensional complexes of even $\Delta$-matroids.Comment: 28 page

Note on Hamiltonicity of basis graphs of even delta-matroids

We show that the basis graph of an even delta-matroid is Hamiltonian if it has more than two vertices. More strongly, we prove that for two distinct edges $e$ and $f$ sharing a common end, it has a Hamiltonian cycle using $e$ and avoiding $f$ unless it has at most two vertices or it is a cycle of length at most four. We also prove that if the basis graph is not a hypercube graph, then each vertex belongs to cycles of every length $\ell\ge 3$, and each edge belongs to cycles of every length $\ell \ge 4$. For the last theorem, we provide two proofs, one of which uses the result of Naddef (1984) on polytopes and the result of Chepoi (2007) on basis graphs of even delta-matroids, and the other is a direct proof using various properties of even delta-matroids. Our theorems generalize the analogous results for matroids by Holzmann and Harary (1972) and Bondy and Ingleton (1976).Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures. Corrected a typ

Interlace Polynomials for Multimatroids and Delta-Matroids

We provide a unified framework in which the interlace polynomial and several related graph polynomials are defined more generally for multimatroids and delta-matroids. Using combinatorial properties of multimatroids rather than graph-theoretical arguments, we find that various known results about these polynomials, including their recursive relations, are both more efficiently and more generally obtained. In addition, we obtain several interrelationships and results for polynomials on multimatroids and delta-matroids that correspond to new interrelationships and results for the corresponding graphs polynomials. As a tool we prove the equivalence of tight 3-matroids and delta-matroids closed under the operations of twist and loop complementation, called vf-safe delta-matroids. This result is of independent interest and related to the equivalence between tight 2-matroids and even delta-matroids observed by Bouchet.Comment: 35 pages, 3 figure

Binary matroids and local complementation

We introduce a binary matroid M(IAS(G)) associated with a looped simple graph G. M(IAS(G)) classifies G up to local equivalence, and determines the delta-matroid and isotropic system associated with G. Moreover, a parametrized form of its Tutte polynomial yields the interlace polynomials of G.Comment: This article supersedes arXiv:1301.0293. v2: 26 pages, 2 figures. v3 - v5: 31 pages, 2 figures v6: Final prepublication versio