Search arXivSearch

arXiv · 1512.05878

Non-representable hyperbolic matroids

Abstract

The generalized Lax conjecture asserts that each hyperbolicity cone is a linear slice of the cone of positive semidefinite matrices. Hyperbolic polynomials give rise to a class of (hyperbolic) matroids which properly contains the class of matroids representable over the complex numbers. This connection was used by the second author to construct counterexamples to algebraic (stronger) versions of the generalized Lax conjecture by considering a non-representable hyperbolic matroid. The Vámos matroid and a generalization of it are, prior to this work, the only known instances of non-representable hyperbolic matroids. We prove that the Non-Pappus and Non-Desargues matroids are non-representable hyperbolic matroids by exploiting a connection between Euclidean Jordan algebras and projective geometries. We further identify a large class of hyperbolic matroids which contains the Vámos matroid and the generalized Vámos matroids recently studied by Burton, Vinzant and Youm. This proves a conjecture of Burton et al. We also prove that many of the matroids considered here are non-representable. The proof of hyperbolicity for the matroids in the class depends on proving nonnegativity of certain symmetric polynomials. In particular we generalize and strengthen several inequalities in the literature, such as the Laguerre-Turán inequality and Jensen's inequality. Finally we explore consequences to algebraic versions of the generalized Lax conjecture.

Explore related subjects

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Nima Amini, Petter Brändén. 2015-12-18. Non-representable hyperbolic matroids. https://arxiv.org/abs/1512.05878

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

Matching Complexes of Outerplanar Graphs

An outerplanar graph is a planar graph that has a planar drawing with all vertices on the unbounded face. The matching complex of a graph is the simplicial complex whose faces are subsets of disjoint edges of the graph. In this paper we prove that the matching complexes of outerplanar graphs are contractible or homotopy equivalent to a wedge of spheres. This extends known results about trees and polygonal line tilings.

math.CO

Awesome graph parameters

For a graph $G$, we denote by $α(G)$ the size of a maximum independent set and by $ω(G)$ the size of a maximum clique in $G$. Our paper lies on the edge of two lines of research, related to $α$ and $ω$, respectively. One of them studies $α$-variants of graph parameters, such as $α$-treewidth or $α$-degeneracy. The second line deals with graph classes where some parameters are bounded by a function of $ω(G)$. A famous example of this type is the family of $χ$-bounded classes, where the chromatic number $χ(G)$ is bounded by a function of $ω(G)$. A Ramsey-type argument implies that if the $α$-variant of a graph parameter $ρ$ is bounded by a constant in a hereditary class $\mathcal{G}$, then $ρ$ is bounded by a function of $ω$ in $\mathcal{G}$. If the reverse implication also holds, we say that $ρ$ is awesome. Otherwise, we say that $ρ$ is awful. In the present paper, we identify a number of awesome and awful graph parameters, derive some algorithmic applications of awesomeness, and propose a number of open problems related to these notions.

math.CO

Perfect matchings and $A_α$-spectral radius in 1-binding graphs

Let $G$ be a graph with vertex set $V(G)$ and edge set $E(G)$. For $α\in[0,1)$, we use $A_α(G)$ and $ρ_α(G)$ to denote the $A_α$-matrix and the $A_α$-spectral radius of $G$, respectively. The binding number $\mbox{bind}(G)$ of $G$ is defined by $\mbox{bind}(G)=\min\left\{\frac{|N_G(X)|}{|X|}:\emptyset\neq X\subseteq V(G),N_G(X)\neq V(G)\right\}$. If $\mbox{bind}(G)\geq1$, then $G$ is called 1-binding. A perfect matching in $G$ is a set of nonadjacent edges covering every vertex of $G$. Tutte proved that a graph $G$ of even order has a perfect matching if and only if $o(G-S)\leq|S|$ holds for every $S\subseteq V(G)$ [W. Tutte, The factorization of linear graphs, J. Lond. Math. Soc. 22 (1947) 107--111]. In this paper, we use Tutte's result to prove that a connected 1-binding graph $G$ of even order $n$ with $n\geq n(α)$ has a perfect matching unless $G=K_1\vee(K_{n-5}\cup K_3\cup K_1)$ if $ρ_α(G)\geqρ_α(K_1\vee(K_{n-5}\cup K_3\cup K_1))$, where $n(α)$ is defined as follows: $n(α)=\max\{18,\frac{2+8α}{1-2α}\}$ if $α\in[0,\frac{1}{2})$, and $n(α)=18$ if $α=\frac{1}{2}$.

math.CO