arXiv subjects

Mike Newman

Publications and source records attributed to Mike Newman.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2022

The optimal bound on the 3-independence number obtainable from a polynomial-type method

A $k$-independent set in a connected graph is a set of vertices such that any two vertices in the set are at distance greater than $k$ in the graph. The $k$-independence number of a graph, denoted $\alpha_k$, is the size of a largest $k$-independent set in the graph. Recent results have made use of polynomials that depend on the spectrum of the graph to bound the $k$-independence number. They are optimized for the cases $k=1,2$. There are polynomials that give good (and sometimes) optimal results for general $k$, including case $k=3$. In this paper, we provide the best possible bound that can be obtained by choosing a polynomial for case $k=3$ and apply this bound to well-known families of graphs including the Hamming graph.

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arXiv2020

Defining bicircular matroids in monadic logic

We conjecture that the class of frame matroids can be characterised by a sentence in the monadic second-order logic of matroids, and we prove that there is such a characterisation for the class of bicircular matroids. The proof does not depend on an excluded-minor characterisation.

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arXiv2019

Tree automata and pigeonhole classes of matroids: I

Hlineny's Theorem shows that any sentence in the monadic second-order logic of matroids can be tested in polynomial time, when the input is limited to a class of F-representable matroids with bounded branch-width (where F is a finite field). If each matroid in a class can be decomposed by a subcubic tree in such a way that only a bounded amount of information flows across displayed separations, then the class has bounded decomposition-width. We introduce the pigeonhole property for classes of matroids: if every subclass with bounded branch-width also has bounded decomposition-width, then the class is pigeonhole. An efficiently pigeonhole class has a stronger property, involving an efficiently-computable equivalence relation on subsets of the ground set. We show that Hlineny's Theorem extends to any efficiently pigeonhole class. In a sequel paper, we use these ideas to extend Hlineny's Theorem to the classes of fundamental transversal matroids, lattice path matroids, bicircular matroids, and H-gain-graphic matroids, where H is any finite group. We also give a characterisation of the families of hypergraphs that can be described via tree automata: a family is defined by a tree automaton if and only if it has bounded decomposition-width. Furthermore, we show that if a class of matroids has the pigeonhole property, and can be defined in monadic second-order logic, then any subclass with bounded branch-width has a decidable monadic second-order theory.

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arXiv2019

Tree automata and pigeonhole classes of matroids: II

Let $\psi$ be a sentence in the counting monadic second-order logic of matroids and let $\mathbb{F}$ be a finite field. Hlin\v{e}n\'{y}'s Theorem says that we can test whether $\mathbb{F}$-representable matroids satisfy $\psi$ using an algorithm that is fixed-parameter tractable with respect to branch-width. In a previous paper we proved there is a similar fixed-parameter tractable algorithm that can test the members of any efficiently pigeonhole class. In this sequel we apply results from the first paper and thereby extend Hlin\v{e}n\'{y}'s Theorem to the classes of fundamental transversal matroids, lattice path matroids, bicircular matroids, and $H$-gain-graphic matroids, when $H$ is a finite group. As a consequence, we can obtain a new proof of Courcelle's Theorem.

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arXiv2019

Fractal classes of matroids

A minor-closed class of matroids is (strongly) fractal if the number of n-element matroids in the class is dominated by the number of n-element excluded minors. We conjecture that when K is an infinite field, the class of K-representable matroids is strongly fractal. We prove that the class of sparse paving matroids with at most k circuit-hyperplanes is a strongly fractal class when k is at least three. The minor-closure of the class of spikes with at most k circuit-hyperplanes (with k>4) satisfies a strictly weaker condition: the number of 2t-element matroids in the class is dominated by the number of 2t-element excluded minors. However, there are only finitely many excluded minors with ground sets of odd size.

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arXiv2016

Is the missing axiom of matroid theory lost forever?

We conjecture that it is not possible to finitely axiomatize matroid representability in monadic second-order logic for matroids, and we describe some partial progress towards this conjecture. We present a collection of sentences in monadic second-order logic and show that it is possible to finitely axiomatize matroids using only sentences in this collection. Moreover, we can also axiomatize representability over any fixed finite field (assuming Rota's conjecture holds). We prove that it is not possible to finitely axiomatize representability, or representability over any fixed infinite field, using sentences from the collection.

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arXiv2014

Yes, the "missing axiom" of matroid theory is lost forever

We prove there is no sentence in the monadic second-order language MS0 that characterises when a matroid is representable over at least one field, and no sentence that characterises when a matroid is K-representable, for any infinite field K. By way of contrast, because Rota's Conjecture is true, there is a sentence that characterises F-representable matroids, for any finite field F.

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arXiv2014

A note on packing spanning trees in graphs and bases in matroids

We consider the class of graphs for which the edge connectivity is equal to the maximum number of edge-disjoint spanning trees, and the natural generalization to matroids, where the cogirth is equal to the number of disjoint bases. We provide descriptions of such graphs and matroids, showing that such a graph (or matroid) has a unique decomposition. In the case of graphs, our results are relevant for certain communication protocols.

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