On exchange axioms for valuated matroids and valuated delta-matroids

Two further equivalent axioms are given for valuations of a matroid. Let M = (V,B) be a matroid on a finite setV with the family of basesB. For :BR the following three conditions are equivalent: A similar result is obtained for valuations of a delta-matroid.This work was done while the author was at Forschungsinstitut für Diskrete Mathematik, Universität Bonn.     

Some excluded-minor theorems for a class of polymatroids

Problems involving representability are among the most frequently studied of all the problems in matroid theory. This paper considers the corresponding class of problems for polymatroids. A polymatroidh on the setS is representable over a free matroid or is Boolean if there is a map fromS into the set of subsets of a setV which preserves rank, that is for all subsetsA ofS, . The class of Boolean polymatroids is minor-closed and in this paper we investigate the excluded minors of this class. In particular, we determine all such Boolean excluded minors that are 2-polymatroids.This research was partially supported by a grant from the Louisiana Education Quality Support Fund Through the Board of RegentsThis research was supported by a grant from the Commonwealth of Australia through the Australian Research Council     

On some combinatorial properties of algebraic matroids

It was proved implicitly by Ingleton and Main and explicitly by Lindström that if three lines in the algebraic matroid consisting of all elements of an algebraically closed field are not coplanar, but any two of them are, then they pass through one point. This theorem is extended to a more general result about the intersection of subspaces in full algebraic matroids. This result is used to show that the minimax theorem for matroid matching, proved for linear matroids by Lovász, remains valid for algebraic matroids.     

Spreads of nonsingular pairs in symplectic vector spaces

Let V be a vector space of dimension 2n, n even, over a field F, equipped with a nonsingular symplectic form. We define a new algebraic/combinatorial structure, a spread of nonsingular pairs, or nsp-spread, on V and show that nsp-spreads exist in considerable generality. We further examine in detail some particular cases.     

On the asymptotic behavior of unbounded radial solutions for semilinear parabolic problems involving critical Sobolev exponent

This paper is concerned with a semilinear parabolic equation involving critical Sobolev exponent in a ball or in RN. The asymptotic behavior of unbounded, radially symmetric, nonnegative global solutions which do not decay to zero is given. The structure of the space of initial data is also discussed.     

Counterexamples to conjectures on 4-connected matroids

Tutte characterized binary matroids to be those matroids without aU ₄ ² minor. Bixby strengthened Tutte’s result, proving that each element of a 2-connected non-binary matroid is in someU ₄ ² minor. Seymour proved that each pair of elements in a 3-connected non-binary matroid is in someU ₄ ² minor and conjectured that each triple of elements in a 4-connected non-binary matroid is in someU ₄ ² minor. A related conjecture of Robertson is that each triple of elements in a 4-connected non-graphic matroid is in some circuit. This paper provides counterexamples to these two conjectures.     

On minors of non-binary matroids

No binary matroid has a minor isomorphic toU ₄ ² , the “four-point line”, and Tutte showed that, conversely, every non-binary matroid has aU ₄ ² minor. However, more can be said about the element sets ofU ₄ ² minors and their distribution. Bixby characterized those elements which are inU ₄ ² minors; a matroidM has aU ₄ ² minor using elementx if and only if the connected component ofM containingx is non-binary. We give a similar (but more complicated) characterization for pairs of elements. In particular, we prove that for every two elements of a 3-connected non-binary matroid, there is aU ₄ ² minor using them both.     

h-Vectors of matroids and logarithmic concavity

Let M be a matroid on E, representable over a field of characteristic zero. We show that h-vectors of the following simplicial complexes are log-concave:

1.

The matroid complex of independent subsets of E.     

The lattice of flats and its underlying flag matroid polytope

LetM be a matroid andF the collection of all linear orderings of bases ofM, orflags ofM. We define the flag matroid polytope Δ(F). We determine when two vertices of Δ(F) are adjacent, and provide a bijection between maximal chains in the lattice of flats ofM and certain maximal faces of Δ(F). Supported in part by NSA grant MDA904-95-1-1056.     

Diperfect graphs

Gallai and Milgram have shown that the vertices of a directed graph, with stability number α(G), can be covered by exactly α(G) disjoint paths. However, the various proofs of this result do not imply the existence of a maximum stable setS and of a partition of the vertex-set into paths μ₁, μ₂, ..., μ_k such tht |μ_i ∩S|=1 for alli. Later, Gallai proved that in a directed graph, the maximum number of vertices in a path is at least equal to the chromatic number; here again, we do not know if there exists an optimal coloring (S ₁,S ₂, ...,S _k) and a path μ such that |μ ∩S _i|=1 for alli. In this paper we show that many directed graphs, like the perfect graphs, have stronger properties: for every maximal stable setS there exists a partition of the vertex set into paths which meet the stable set in only one point. Also: for every optimal coloring there exists a path which meets each color class in only one point. This suggests several conjecties similar to the perfect graph conjecture. Dedicated to Tibor Gallai on his seventieth birthday     

A sharp upper bound on algebraic connectivity using domination number

Let G be a connected graph of order n. The algebraic connectivity of G is the second smallest eigenvalue of the Laplacian matrix of G. A dominating set in G is a vertex subset S such that each vertex of G that is not in S is adjacent to a vertex in S. The least cardinality of a dominating set is the domination number. In this paper, we prove a sharp upper bound on the algebraic connectivity of a connected graph in terms of the domination number and characterize the associated extremal graphs.     

Sublattices of complete lattices with continuity conditions

Various embedding problems of lattices into complete lattices are solved. We prove that for any join-semilattice S with the minimal join-cover refinement property, the ideal lattice Id S of S is both algebraic and dually algebraic. Furthermore, if there are no infinite D-sequences in J(S), then Id S can be embedded into a direct product of finite lower bounded lattices. We also find a system of infinitary identities that characterize sublattices of complete, lower continuous, and join-semidistributive lattices. These conditions are satisfied by any (not necessarily finitely generated) lower bounded lattice and by any locally finite, join-semidistributive lattice. Furthermore, they imply M. Erné’s dual staircase distributivity.On the other hand, we prove that the subspace lattice of any infinite-dimensional vector space cannot be embedded into any ℵ₀-complete, ℵ₀-upper continuous, and ℵ₀-lower continuous lattice. A similar result holds for the lattice of all order-convex subsets of any infinite chain.Dedicated to the memory of Ivan RivalReceived April 4, 2003; accepted in final form June 16, 2004.This revised version was published online in August 2005 with a corrected cover date.     

A minor-based characterization of matroid 3-connectivity

It is well known that a matroid is 2-connected if and only if every 2-element set is contained in a circuit, or equivalently, a _U1,2$U_{1,2}$-minor. This paper proves that a matroid is 3-connected if and only if every 4-element set is contained in a minor isomorphic to a wheel of rank 3 or 4; a whirl of rank 2, 3, or 4; or the relaxation of a rank-3 whirl. Some variants of this result are also discussed.     

A note on semilinear heat equation in hyperbolic space

Bandle et al. [1] obtained a quite interesting result about a semilinear heat equation that the Fujita exponent relative to the whole hyperbolic space is just the same as that relative to bounded domain in Euclidean space, and, in addition, the properties of solutions are different in the critical exponent case. Our purpose is to answer an open problem proposed by Bandle et al. for the critical exponent case, and it, together with the one obtained by them, shows that the critical exponent case does belong to the non-blow-up case, which is completely different from the case in Euclidean space.     

On reid’s 3-simplicial matroid theorem

In this paper we prove the following result of Ralph Reid (which was never published nor completely proved). Theorem. Let M be a matroid coordinatizable (representable) over a prime field F. Then there is a 3-simplicial matroid M′ over F which is a series extension of M. The proof we give is different from the original proof of Reid which uses techniques of algebraic topology. Our proof is constructive and uses elementary matrix operations.     

A note on Pall partitions over finite fields

A Pall partition for a quadratic space V is a collection of disjoint (except for {0}) maximal totally isotropic subspaces whose union contains all of the isotropic vectors in V. In this paper it is shown that no non-degenerate quadratic space of dimension 4k+1, k?1, over a finite field of odd characteristic can have a Pall partition. The method of proof consists of assuming such a partition exists and showing by various counting arguments that this leads to the existence of an impossible array of ordered pairs.     

Coxeter matroid polytopes

If Δ is a polytope in real affine space, each edge of Δ determines a reflection in the perpendicular bisector of the edge. The exchange groupW (Δ) is the group generated by these reflections, and Δ is a (Coxeter) matroid polytope if this group is finite. This simple concept of matroid polytope turns out to be an equivalent way to define Coxeter matroids. The Gelfand-Serganova Theorem and the structure of the exchange group both give us information about the matroid polytope. We then specialize this information to the case of ordinary matroids; the matroid polytope by our definition in this case turns out to be a facet of the classical matroid polytope familiar to matroid theorists. This work was supported in part by NSA grant MDA904-95-1-1056.     

Recognizing graphic matroids

There is no polynomially bounded algorithm to test if a matroid (presented by an “independence oracle”) is binary. However, there is one to test graphicness. Finding this extends work of previous authors, who have given algorithms to test binary matroids for graphicness. Our main tool is a new result that ifM′ is the polygon matroid of a graphG, andM is a different matroid onE(G) with the same rank, then there is a vertex ofG whose star is not a cocircuit ofM.     

Maximum nullity of outerplanar graphs and the path cover number

Let G=(V,E) be a graph with V={1,2,…,n}. Define S(G) as the set of all n×n real-valued symmetric matrices A=[a_ij] with a_ij≠0,i≠j if and only if ij∈E. By M(G) we denote the largest possible nullity of any matrix A∈S(G). The path cover number of a graph G, denoted P(G), is the minimum number of vertex disjoint paths occurring as induced subgraphs of G which cover all the vertices of G.There has been some success with relating the path cover number of a graph to its maximum nullity. Johnson and Duarte [5], have shown that for a tree T,M(T)=P(T). Barioli et al. [2], show that for a unicyclic graph G,M(G)=P(G) or M(G)=P(G)-1. Notice that both families of graphs are outerplanar. We show that for any outerplanar graph G,M(G)?P(G). Further we show that for any partial 2-path G,M(G)=P(G).