109 research outputs found
Spanning trees of 3-uniform hypergraphs
Masbaum and Vaintrob's "Pfaffian matrix tree theorem" implies that counting
spanning trees of a 3-uniform hypergraph (abbreviated to 3-graph) can be done
in polynomial time for a class of "3-Pfaffian" 3-graphs, comparable to and
related to the class of Pfaffian graphs. We prove a complexity result for
recognizing a 3-Pfaffian 3-graph and describe two large classes of 3-Pfaffian
3-graphs -- one of these is given by a forbidden subgraph characterization
analogous to Little's for bipartite Pfaffian graphs, and the other consists of
a class of partial Steiner triple systems for which the property of being
3-Pfaffian can be reduced to the property of an associated graph being
Pfaffian. We exhibit an infinite set of partial Steiner triple systems that are
not 3-Pfaffian, none of which can be reduced to any other by deletion or
contraction of triples.
We also find some necessary or sufficient conditions for the existence of a
spanning tree of a 3-graph (much more succinct than can be obtained by the
currently fastest polynomial-time algorithm of Gabow and Stallmann for finding
a spanning tree) and a superexponential lower bound on the number of spanning
trees of a Steiner triple system.Comment: 34 pages, 9 figure
A solution to the tennis ball problem
We present a complete solution to the so-called tennis ball problem, which is
equivalent to counting lattice paths in the plane that use North and East steps
and lie between certain boundaries. The solution takes the form of explicit
expressions for the corresponding generating functions. Our method is based on
the properties of Tutte polynomials of matroids associated to lattice paths. We
also show how the same method provides a solution to a wide generalization of
the problem.Comment: 9 pages, Late
Representation of Numerical Semigroups by Dyck Paths
We introduce square diagrams that represent numerical semigroups and we
obtain an injection from the set of numerical semigroups into the set of Dyck
paths.Comment: Short not
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
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