The Lattice of Cyclic Flats of a Matroid

A flat of a matroid is cyclic if it is a union of circuits. The cyclic flats of a matroid form a lattice under inclusion. We study these lattices and explore matroids from the perspective of cyclic flats. In particular, we show that every lattice is isomorphic to the lattice of cyclic flats of a matroid. We give a necessary and sufficient condition for a lattice Z of sets and a function r on Z to be the lattice of cyclic flats of a matroid and the restriction of the corresponding rank function to Z. We define cyclic width and show that this concept gives rise to minor-closed, dual-closed classes of matroids, two of which contain only transversal matroids.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figure. The new version addresses earlier work by Julie Sims that the authors learned of after submitting the first versio

Lattice path matroids: enumerative aspects and Tutte polynomials

Fix two lattice paths P and Q from (0,0) to (m,r) that use East and North steps with P never going above Q. We show that the lattice paths that go from (0,0) to (m,r) and that remain in the region bounded by P and Q can be identified with the bases of a particular type of transversal matroid, which we call a lattice path matroid. We consider a variety of enumerative aspects of these matroids and we study three important matroid invariants, namely the Tutte polynomial and, for special types of lattice path matroids, the characteristic polynomial and the beta invariant. In particular, we show that the Tutte polynomial is the generating function for two basic lattice path statistics and we show that certain sequences of lattice path matroids give rise to sequences of Tutte polynomials for which there are relatively simple generating functions. We show that Tutte polynomials of lattice path matroids can be computed in polynomial time. Also, we obtain a new result about lattice paths from an analysis of the beta invariant of certain lattice path matroids.Comment: 28 pages, 11 figure

Extensions of transversal matroids

En aquest treball s'introdueixen les principals nocions de teoria de matroides, matroides transversals i extensions d'un sol element. El nostre primer objectiu és estudiar quines extensions d'una matroide transversal són també transversals. En particular, centrem el nostre estudi en la família de matroides uniformes. El conjunt d'extensions d'una matroide és un reticle sota l'anomenat weak order. Intentem respondre a la pregunta de si el conjunt d'extensions transversals d'una matroide uniforme és també un reticle o no. També dissenyem un algoritme per catalogar i contar matroides transversals fins a una certa mida del ground set. Per fer-ho, les construim a partir de la més petita, a base de iterativament extendre presentacions minimals, fent servir les eines que hem desenvolupat anteriorment. En vista que l'estratègia no troba realment totes les matroides transversals, també estudiem com són les matroides que no es poden construir amb aquesta estratègia i quines propietats satisfan.En este trabajo introducimos las nociones básicas de teoría de matroides, matroides transversales y extensiones de un solo elemento. Nuestro primer objetivo es estudiar las extensiones de matroides transversales que también son transversales. En particular, centramos nuestro estudio en la familia de las matroides uniformes. El conjunto de extensiones de una matroide es un retículo bajo el llamado weak order. Intentamos responder a la pregunta de si el conjunto de extensiones transversales de un matroide uniforme es también un retículo o no. También diseñamos un algoritmo que cataloga y cuenta matroides transversales hasta un tamaño fijo del ground set. Para ello, las construimos desde cero extendiendo iterativamente presentaciones minimales utilizando las herramientas que hemos visto anteriormente. Dado que la estrategia no cuenta realmente todas las matroides transversales, estudiamos también qué matroides no son alcanzables utilizando esta estrategia y qué propiedades satisfacen.In this work we introduce the basic notions of matroid theory, transversal matroids and single-element extensions. Our first objective is to study which extensions of a given transversal matroid are also transversal. In particular, we focus our study on the family of uniform matroids. The set of single-element extensions of a matroid is a lattice under the so-called weak order. We try to answer the question of whether the set of transversal extensions of a uniform matroid is also a lattice or not. We also design an algorithm that catalogs and counts transversal matroids up to a fixed size of the ground set. To do so, we build them from scratch by iteratively extending minimal presentations using the tools that we have previously seen. In view that the strategy does not actually count all transversal matroids, we also study which matroids are not reachable using this strategy and what properties do they satisfy

Hypergraphic matroids

A method of defining a matroid on the edge-set of a k-uniform hypergraph (a k-hypergraph) is defined, which is a generalisation of that used for defining a matroid on the edge-set of a graph; the matroids so defined are called "hypergraphic matroids". Analogues are found in hypergraphs of the concepts of trees, forests, circuits, cutsets and components; we show that two generalisations are necessary of the concept of a vertex in a graph - a vertex, and a (k-l)-subset of vertices of a k-hypergraph; we call such a subset a node. The class of hypergraphic matroids is not closed under contraction, but may be enlarged to the class of generalised hypergraphic matroids, which is the closure of the class of hypergraphic matroids under the operation of taking minors. These matroids are defined in an analogous way to hypergraphic matroids, but a particular type of submodular function is necessary, instead of the cardinality function used for hyper graphs. We show that no finite set of forbidden minors exists to characterise either harpergraphic or generalised hypergraphic matroids. There is, however, a lattice characterisation of hypergraphic matroids. Transversal matroids are hypergraphic, and we give a simple method of obtaining a presentation. We also prove that hypergraphic matroids are representable over every characteristic, and that binary generalised hypergraphic matroids are graphic. The graph-theoretic notion of series-parallel extension is generalised, motivated by hypergraph considerations, to a new operation called generalised series-parallel extension. This operation has many properties similar to series-parallel extension. Generalised seriesparallel networks are defined, and characterised by a set of six forbidden minors. An extension of this result characterises ternary base-orderable matroids. We show that the matroid of a hypergraph can be used to derive weak and strong colourings of the nodes, and that, under obvious necessary conditions, all such colourings arise in this way. Connectedness and paths are investigated, but the results obtained for hypergraphs are less satisfactory than those for graphs, largely because the concepts of "node" and "vertex" do not coincide for general k-hypergraphs

Discrete Geometry (hybrid meeting)

A number of important recent developments in various branches of discrete geometry were presented at the workshop, which took place in hybrid format due to a pandemic situation. The presentations illustrated both the diversity of the area and its strong connections to other fields of mathematics such as topology, combinatorics, algebraic geometry or functional analysis. The open questions abound and many of the results presented were obtained by young researchers, confirming the great vitality of discrete geometry

A Combinatorial Commutative Algebra Approach to Complete Decoding

Esta tesis pretende explorar el nexo de unión que existe entre la estructura algebraica de un código lineal y el proceso de descodificación completa. Sabemos que el proceso de descodificación completa para códigos lineales arbitrarios es NP-completo, incluso si se admite preprocesamiento de los datos. Nuestro objetivo es realizar un análisis algebraico del proceso de la descodificación, para ello asociamos diferentes estructuras matemáticas a ciertas familias de códigos. Desde el punto de vista computacional, nuestra descripción no proporciona un algoritmo eficiente pues nos enfrentamos a un problema de naturaleza NP. Sin embargo, proponemos algoritmos alternativos y nuevas técnicas que permiten relajar las condiciones del problema reduciendo los recursos de espacio y tiempo necesarios para manejar dicha estructura algebraica.Departamento de Algebra, Geometría y Topologí