Four-Entropic Matroids Are Quaternary

Abstract

For an integer $q\ge2$, a matroid is $q$-entropic if its rank function, multiplied by $\log q$, is the joint-entropy function of random variables on a $q$-element alphabet. We prove that a matroid is $4$-entropic if and only if it is representable over $\F_4$. The corresponding statements for alphabet sizes two and three were known. The proof combines minor closure and the excluded-minor characterization of quaternary matroids with structural properties of quasigroups of order four. Thus arbitrary four-symbol partition representations yield no matroids beyond the quaternary ones. As an application, every access structure admitting an ideal perfect scheme with a uniform four-symbol secret and four-symbol active shares also admits an ideal $\F_4$-linear scheme.