Optimal matroid bases with intersection constraints: Valuated matroids, M-convex functions, and their applications
Yuni Iwamasa, Kenjiro Takazawa
备注：
This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Mathematical Programming. The final authenticated version is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10107-021-01625-2
For two matroids $M_1$ and $M_2$ with the same ground set $V$ and two cost functions $w_1$ and $w_2$ on $2^V$, we consider the problem of finding bases $X_1$ of $M_1$ and $X_2$ of $M_2$ minimizing $w_1(X_1)+w_2(X_2)$ subject to a certain cardinality constraint on their intersection $X_1 \cap X_2$. For this problem, Lendl, Peis, and Timmermans (2019) discussed modular cost functions: they reduced the problem to weighted matroid intersection for the case where the cardinality constraint is $|X_1 \cap X_2|\le k$ or $|X_1 \cap X_2|\ge k$; and designed a new primal-dual algorithm for the case where the constraint is $|X_1 \cap X_2|=k$.
The aim of this paper is to generalize the problems to have nonlinear convex cost functions, and to comprehend them from the viewpoint of discrete convex analysis. We prove that each generalized problem can be solved via valuated independent assignment, valuated matroid intersection, or $\mathrm{M}$-convex submodular flow, to offer a comprehensive understanding of weighted matroid intersection with intersection constraints. We also show the NP-hardness of some variants of these problems, which clarifies the coverage of discrete convex analysis for those problems. Finally, we present applications of our generalized problems in the recoverable robust matroid basis problem, combinatorial optimization problems with interaction costs, and matroid congestion games.
In this paper, we present a lattice-theoretic characterization for valuated matroids, which is an extension of the well-known cryptomorphic equivalence between matroids and geometric lattices ($=$ atomistic semimodular lattices). We introduce a class of semimodular lattices, called uniform semimodular lattices, and establish a cryptomorphic equivalence between integer-valued valuated matroids and uniform semimodular lattices. Our result includes a coordinate-free lattice-theoretic characterization of integer points in tropical linear spaces, incorporates the Dress-Terhalle completion process o…
This is a survey article on the exchange properties characterizing M-natural-concave set functions and valuated matroids (M-concave set functions). The objective of this paper is to collect related results scattered in the literature and to give (reasonably) self-contained elementary proofs for them.
The multiple exchange property for matroid bases is generalized for valuated matroids and M$^\natural$-concave set functions. The proof is based on the Fenchel-type duality theorem in discrete convex analysis. The present result has an implication in economics: The strong no complementarities (SNC) condition of Gul and Stacchetti is in fact equivalent to the gross substitutes (GS) condition of Kelso and Crawford.
Murota (1998) and Murota and Shioura (1999) introduced concepts of M-convex function and M${}^\natural$-convex function as discrete convex functions, which are generalizations of valuated matroids due to Dress and Wenzel (1992). In the present paper we consider a new operation defined by a convolution of sections of an M${}^\natural$-convex function that transforms the given M${}^\natural$-convex function to an M-convex function, which we call a compression of an M${}^\natural$-convex function. For the class of valuated generalized matroids, which are special M${}^\natural$-convex functions, t…
Given $d$ row vectors of $n$ tropical numbers, $d<n$, the tropical Stiefel map constructs a version of their row space, whose Plücker coordinates are tropical determinants. We explicitly describe the fibers of this map. From the viewpoint of matroid theory, the tropical Stiefel map defines a generalization of transversal matroids in the valuated context, and our results are the valuated generalizations of theorems of Brualdi and Dinolt, Mason and others on the set of all set families that present a given transversal matroid. We show that a connected valuated matroid is transversal if and only …
The spinor variety is cut out by the quadratic Wick relations among the principal Pfaffians of an n x n skew-symmetric matrix. Its points correspond to n-dimensional isotropic subspaces of a 2n-dimensional vector space. In this paper we tropicalize this picture, and we develop a combinatorial theory of tropical Wick vectors and tropical linear spaces that are tropically isotropic. We characterize tropical Wick vectors in terms of subdivisions of Delta-matroid polytopes, and we examine to what extent the Wick relations form a tropical basis. Our theory generalizes several results for tropical l…
We show that the weights on a tropical variety can be recovered from the tropical scheme structure proposed by the Giansiracusas in arXiv:1308.0042, so there is a well-defined Hilbert-Chow morphism from a tropical scheme to the underlying tropical cycle. For a subscheme of projective space given by a homogeneous ideal I we show that this tropical scheme structure contains the same information as the set of valuated matroids of the vector spaces I_d for d \geq 0. We also give a combinatorial criterion to determine whether a given relation is in the congruence defining the tropical scheme struct…
Recently, Bollen, Draisma, and Pendavingh have introduced the Lindström valuation on the algebraic matroid of a field extension of characteristic p. Their construction passes through what they call a matroid flock and builds on some of the associated theory of matroid flocks which they develop. In this paper, we give a direct construction of the Lindström valuated matroid using the theory of inseparable field extensions. In particular, we give a description of the valuation, the valuated circuits, and the valuated cocircuits.
We study valuated matroids, their tropical incidence relations, flag matroids and total positivity. This leads to a characterization of permutahedral subdivisions, namely subdivisions of regular permutahedra into generalized permutahedra. Further, we get a characterization of those subdivisions arising from positive valuated flag matroids.
We investigate valuated matroids with an additional algebraic structure on their residue matroids. We encode the structure in terms of representability over stringent hyperfields. A hyperfield $H$ is {\em stringent} if $a\boxplus b$ is a singleton unless $a=-b$, for all $a,b\in H$. By a construction of Marc Krasner, each valued field gives rise to a stringent hyperfield. We show that if $H$ is a stringent skew hyperfield, then the vectors of any weak matroid over $H$ are orthogonal to its covectors, and we deduce that weak matroids over $H$ are strong matroids over $H$. Also, we present vector…
We introduce an idempotent analogue of the exterior algebra for which the theory of tropical linear spaces (and valuated matroids) can be seen in close analogy with the classical Grassmann algebra formalism for linear spaces. The top wedge power of a tropical linear space is its Plucker vector, which we view as a tensor, and a tropical linear space is recovered from its Plucker vector as the kernel of the corresponding wedge multiplication map. We prove that an arbitrary d-tensor satisfies the tropical Plucker relations (valuated exchange axiom) if and only if the d-th wedge power of the kerne…
The multiple exchange property for matroid bases has recently been generalized for valuated matroids and M$^{\natural}$-concave set functions. This paper establishes a stronger form of this multiple exchange property that imposes a cardinality condition on the exchangeable subset. The stronger form immediately implies the defining exchange property of M$^{\natural}$-concave set functions, which was not the case with the recently established multiple exchange property without the cardinality condition.
Given a mixed hypergraph $\mathcal{F}=(V,\mathcal{A}\cup \mathcal{E})$, functions $f,g:V\rightarrow \mathbb{Z}_+$ and an integer $k$, a packing of $k$ spanning mixed hyperarborescences is called $(k,f,g)$-flexible if every $v \in V$ is the root of at least $f(v)$ and at most $g(v)$ of the mixed hyperarborescences. We give a characterization of the mixed hypergraphs admitting such packings. This generalizes results of Frank and, more recently, Gao and Yang. Our approach is based on matroid intersection, generalizing a construction of Edmonds. We also obtain an algorithm for finding a minimum we…
We study how good a lexicographically maximal solution is in the weighted matching and matroid intersection problems. A solution is lexicographically maximal if it takes as many heaviest elements as possible, and subject to this, it takes as many second heaviest elements as possible, and so on. If the distinct weight values are sufficiently dispersed, e.g., the minimum ratio of two distinct weight values is at least the ground set size, then the lexicographical maximality and the usual weighted optimality are equivalent. We show that the threshold of the ratio for this equivalence to hold is e…
We construct some matroids that have a circuit and a cocircuit with infinite intersection. This answers a question of Bruhn, Diestel, Kriesell, Pendavingh and Wollan. It further shows that the axiom system for matroids proposed by Dress does not axiomatize all infinite matroids. We show that one of the matroids we define is a thin sums matroid whose dual isn't a thin sums matroid.
We show that the infinite matroid intersection conjecture of Nash-Williams implies the infinite Menger theorem proved recently by Aharoni and Berger. We prove that this conjecture is true whenever one matroid is nearly finitary and the second is the dual of a nearly finitary matroid, where the nearly finitary matroids form a superclass of the finitary matroids. In particular, this proves the infinite matroid intersection conjecture for finite-cycle matroids of 2-connected, locally finite graphs with only a finite number of vertex-disjoint rays.
Queen Mary University of London（伦敦大学玛丽女王学院）；San Francisco State University（旧金山州立大学）；Princeton University（普林斯顿大学）；University of Western Ontario（韦仕敦大学（西安大略大学））；Carnegie Mellon University（卡内基梅隆大学）；Korea Institute for Advanced Study（韩国高等研究院）；University of Wisconsin-Madison（威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校）
Let $ E $ be a possibly infinite set and let $ M $ and $ N $ be matroids defined on $ E $. We say that the pair $ \{ M,N \} $ has the Intersection property if $ M $ and $ N $ share an independent set $ I $ admitting a bipartition $ I_M\sqcup I_N $ such that $ \mathsf{span}_M(I_M)\cup \mathsf{span}_N(I_N)=E $. The Matroid Intersection Conjecture of Nash-Williams says that every matroid pair has the Intersection property. The conjecture is known and easy to prove in the case when one of the matroids is uniform and it was shown by Bowler and Carmesin that the conjecture is implied by its special …
As part of the recent developments in infinite matroid theory, there have been a number of conjectures about how standard theorems of finite matroid theory might extend to the infinite setting. These include base packing, base covering, and matroid intersection and union. We show that several of these conjectures are equivalent, so that each gives a perspective on the same central problem of infinite matroid theory. For finite matroids, these equivalences give new and simpler proofs for the finite theorems corresponding to these conjectures. This new point of view also allows us to extend, and…
Matroid is a generalization of many fundamental objects in combinatorial mathematics , and matroid intersection problem is a classical subject in combinatorial optimization . However , only the intersection of two matroids are well understood . The solution of the intersection problem of more than three matroids is proved to be \textbf{NP-hard} . We will give a lower bound estimate on the maximal cardinality of the common independent sets in matroid intersections . We will also study some properties of the intersection of more than two matroids and deduce some analogous results for Edmonds' Mi…
We prove a common generalization of two results, one on rainbow fractional matchings and one on rainbow sets in the intersection of two matroids: Given $d = r \lceil k \rceil - r + 1$ functions of size (=sum of values) $k$ that are all independent in each of $r$ given matroids, there exists a rainbow set of $supp(f_i)$, $i \leq d$, supporting a function with the same properties.
We prove that if $ M $ and $ N $ are finitary matroids on a common countable edge set $ E $ then they admit a common independent set $I $ such that there is a bipartition $ E=E_{M}\cup E_{N} $ for which $ I\cap E_M $ spans $ E_M $ in $ M $ and $ I\cap E_N $ spans $ E_N $ in $ N $. It answers positively the Matroid Intersection Conjecture of Nash-Williams in the countable case.
Using a new technique, we prove a rich family of special cases of the matroid intersection conjecture. Roughly, we prove the conjecture for pairs of tame matroids which have a common decomposition by 2-separations into finite parts.
In this paper, we investigate the classes of matroid intersection admitting a solution for the problem of partitioning the ground set $E$ into $k$ common independent sets, where $E$ can be partitioned into $k$ independent sets in each of the two matroids. For this problem, we present a new approach building upon the generalized-polymatroid intersection theorem. We exhibit that this approach offers alternative proofs and unified understandings of previous results showing that the problem has a solution for the intersection of two laminar matroids and that of two matroids without $(k+1)$-spanned…
Matroid intersection is one of the most powerful frameworks of matroid theory that generalizes various problems in combinatorial optimization. Edmonds' fundamental theorem provides a min-max characterization for the unweighted setting, while Frank's weight-splitting theorem provides one for the weighted case. Several efficient algorithms were developed for these problems, all relying on the usage of one of the conventional oracles for both matroids. In the present paper, we consider the tractability of the matroid intersection problem under restricted oracles. In particular, we focus on the ra…
We construct an intersection product on tropical cycles contained in the Bergman fan of a matroid. To do this we first establish a connection between the operations of deletion and restriction in matroid theory and tropical modifications as defined by Mikhalkin. This product generalises the product of Allermann and Rau, and Allermann and also provides an alternative procedure for intersecting cycles which is not based on intersecting with Cartier divisors. Also, we simplify the definition in the case of one dimensional fan cycles in two dimensional matroidal fans and given an application of th…
For a simplicial complex ${\mathcal C}$ denote by $β({\mathcal C})$ the minimal number of edges from ${\mathcal C}$ needed to cover the ground set. If ${\mathcal C}$ is a matroid then for every partition $A_1, \ldots, A_m$ of the ground set there exists a set $S \in {\mathcal C}$ meeting each $A_i$ in at least $\frac{|A_i|}{β({\mathcal C})}$ elements. We conjecture that a slightly weaker result is true for the intersections of two matroids: if ${\mathcal D}={\mathcal P} \cap {\mathcal Q}$, where ${\mathcal P},{\mathcal Q}$ are matroids on the same ground set $V$ and $β({\mathcal P}), β({\mathc…
Given sets $F_1, \ldots ,F_n$, a {\em partial rainbow function} is a partial choice function of the sets $F_i$. A {\em partial rainbow set} is the range of a partial rainbow function. Aharoni and Berger \cite{AhBer} conjectured that if $M$ and $N$ are matroids on the same ground set, and $F_1, \ldots ,F_n$ are pairwise disjoint sets of size $n$ belonging to $M \cap N$, then there exists a rainbow set of size $n-1$ belonging to $M \cap N$. Following an idea of Woolbright and Brower-de Vries-Wieringa, we prove that there exists such a rainbow set of size at least $n-\sqrt{n}$.
We study a particular graded ring structure on the set of all loopfree matroids on a fixed labeled ground set, which occurs naturally in tropical geometry. The product is given by matroid intersection and the additive structure is defined by assigning to each matroid the indicator vector of its chains of flats. We show that this ring is generated in corank one, more precisely that any matroid can be written as a linear combination of products of corank one matroids. Moreover, we prove that a basis for the graded part of rank r matroids is given by the set of nested matroids and that the total …
This paper deals with the problem of representing the matching independence system in a graph as the intersection of finitely many matroids. After characterizing the graphs for which the matching independence system is the intersection of two matroids, we study the function mu(G), which is the minimum number of matroids that need to be intersected in order to obtain the set of matchings on a graph G, and examine the maximal value, mu(n), for graphs with n vertices. We describe an integer programming formulation for deciding whether mu(G)<= k. Using combinatorial arguments, we prove that mu(n)i…
In this paper, we investigate three problems concerning the toric ideal associated to a matroid. Firstly, we list all matroids $\mathcal M$ such that its corresponding toric ideal $I_{\mathcal M}$ is a complete intersection. Secondly, we handle with the problem of detecting minors of a matroid $\mathcal M$ from a minimal set of binomial generators of $I_{\mathcal M}$. In particular, given a minimal set of binomial generators of $I_{\mathcal M}$ we provide a necessary condition for $\mathcal M$ to have a minor isomorphic to $\mathcal U_{d,2d}$ for $d \geq 2$. This condition is proved to be suff…
The Packing/Covering Conjecture was introduced by Bowler and Carmesin motivated by the Matroid Partition Theorem by Edmonds and Fulkerson. A packing for a family $ (M_i: i\inΘ) $ of matroids on the common edge set $ E $ is a system $ (S_i: i\inΘ) $ of pairwise disjoint subsets of $ E $ where $ S_i $ is panning in $ M_i $. Similarly, a covering is a system $ (I_i: i\inΘ) $ with $\bigcup_{i\inΘ} I_i=E $ where $ I_i $ is independent in $ M_i $. The conjecture states that for every matroid family on $ E $ there is a partition $E=E_p \sqcup E_c$ such that $ (M_i \upharpoonright E_p: i\in Θ) $ admit…
Spanning trees are a representative example of linear matroid bases that are efficiently countable. Perfect matchings of Pfaffian bipartite graphs are a countable example of common bases of two matrices. Generalizing these two examples, Webb (2004) introduced the notion of Pfaffian pairs as a pair of matrices for which counting of their common bases is tractable via the Cauchy-Binet formula. This paper studies counting on linear matroid problems extending Webb's work. We first introduce "Pfaffian parities" as an extension of Pfaffian pairs to the linear matroid parity problem, which is a commo…
We characterize the 3-connected members of the intersection of the class of bicircular and cobicircular matroids. Aside from some exceptional matroids with rank and corank at most 5, this class consists of just the free swirls and their minors.
