109 research outputs found
An obstacle to a decomposition theorem for near-regular matroids
Seymour's Decomposition Theorem for regular matroids states that any matroid
representable over both GF(2) and GF(3) can be obtained from matroids that are
graphic, cographic, or isomorphic to R10 by 1-, 2-, and 3-sums. It is hoped
that similar characterizations hold for other classes of matroids, notably for
the class of near-regular matroids. Suppose that all near-regular matroids can
be obtained from matroids that belong to a few basic classes through k-sums.
Also suppose that these basic classes are such that, whenever a class contains
all graphic matroids, it does not contain all cographic matroids. We show that
in that case 3-sums will not suffice.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figur
Representing some non-representable matroids
We extend the notion of representation of a matroid to algebraic structures
that we call skew partial fields. Our definition of such representations
extends Tutte's definition, using chain groups. We show how such
representations behave under duality and minors, we extend Tutte's
representability criterion to this new class, and we study the generator
matrices of the chain groups. An example shows that the class of matroids
representable over a skew partial field properly contains the class of matroids
representable over a skew field.
Next, we show that every multilinear representation of a matroid can be seen
as a representation over a skew partial field.
Finally we study a class of matroids called quaternionic unimodular. We prove
a generalization of the Matrix Tree theorem for this class.Comment: 29 pages, 2 figure
Confinement of matroid representations to subsets of partial fields
Let M be a matroid representable over a (partial) field P and B a matrix
representable over a sub-partial field P' of P. We say that B confines M to P'
if, whenever a P-representation matrix A of M has a submatrix B, A is a scaled
P'-matrix. We show that, under some conditions on the partial fields, on M, and
on B, verifying whether B confines M to P' amounts to a finite check. A
corollary of this result is Whittle's Stabilizer Theorem.
A combination of the Confinement Theorem and the Lift Theorem from
arXiv:0804.3263 leads to a short proof of Whittle's characterization of the
matroids representable over GF(3) and other fields.
We also use a combination of the Confinement Theorem and the Lift Theorem to
prove a characterization, in terms of representability over partial fields, of
the 3-connected matroids that have k inequivalent representations over GF(5),
for k = 1, ..., 6.
Additionally we give, for a fixed matroid M, an algebraic construction of a
partial field P_M and a representation A over P_M such that every
representation of M over a partial field P is equal to f(A) for some
homomorphism f:P_M->P. Using the Confinement Theorem we prove an algebraic
analog of the theory of free expansions by Geelen et al.Comment: 45 page
Representing matroids via pasture morphisms
Using the framework of pastures and foundations of matroids developed by
Baker-Lorscheid, we give algorithms to: (i) compute the foundation of a
matroid, and (ii) compute all morphisms between two pastures. Together, these
provide an efficient method of solving many questions of interest in matroid
representations, including orientability, non-representability, and computing
all representations of a matroid over a finite field.Comment: 22 pages, 2 figures, 1 table. Comments welcom
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Partial Representations for Ternary Matroids
In combinatorics, a matroid is a discrete object that generalizes various notions of dependence that arise throughout mathematics. All of the information about some matroids can be encoded (or represented) by a matrix whose entries come from a particular field, while other matroids cannot be represented in this way. However, for any matroid, there exists a matrix, called a partial representation of the matroid, that encodes some of the information about the matroid. In fact, a given matroid usually has many different partial representations, each providing different pieces of information about the matroid. In this thesis, we investigate when a given partial representation actually encodes all of the information about some matroid. In particular, we restrict our attention to the class of ternary matroids, which are those that can be fully represented by a matrix over the Galois field GF(3). We explore some of the conditions under which such a matroid is also uniquely determined by one of its partial representations
The moduli space of matroids
In the first part of the paper, we clarify the connections between several
algebraic objects appearing in matroid theory: both partial fields and
hyperfields are fuzzy rings, fuzzy rings are tracts, and these relations are
compatible with the respective matroid theories. Moreover, fuzzy rings are
ordered blueprints and lie in the intersection of tracts with ordered
blueprints; we call the objects of this intersection pastures.
In the second part, we construct moduli spaces for matroids over pastures. We
show that, for any non-empty finite set , the functor taking a pasture
to the set of isomorphism classes of rank- -matroids on is
representable by an ordered blue scheme , the moduli space of
rank- matroids on .
In the third part, we draw conclusions on matroid theory. A classical
rank- matroid on corresponds to a -valued point of
where is the Krasner hyperfield. Such a point defines a
residue pasture , which we call the universal pasture of . We show that
for every pasture , morphisms are canonically in bijection with
-matroid structures on .
An analogous weak universal pasture classifies weak -matroid
structures on . The unit group of can be canonically identified with
the Tutte group of . We call the sub-pasture of generated by
``cross-ratios' the foundation of ,. It parametrizes rescaling classes of
weak -matroid structures on , and its unit group is coincides with the
inner Tutte group of . We show that a matroid is regular if and only if
its foundation is the regular partial field, and a non-regular matroid is
binary if and only if its foundation is the field with two elements. This
yields a new proof of the fact that a matroid is regular if and only if it is
both binary and orientable.Comment: 83 page
Dessins, their delta-matroids and partial duals
Given a map on a connected and closed orientable surface, the
delta-matroid of is a combinatorial object associated to which captures some topological information of the embedding. We explore how
delta-matroids associated to dessins d'enfants behave under the action of the
absolute Galois group. Twists of delta-matroids are considered as well; they
correspond to the recently introduced operation of partial duality of maps.
Furthermore, we prove that every map has a partial dual defined over its field
of moduli. A relationship between dessins, partial duals and tropical curves
arising from the cartography groups of dessins is observed as well.Comment: 34 pages, 20 figures. Accepted for publication in the SIGMAP14
Conference Proceeding
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