Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-1-2008

Abstract

Tutte's Wheels-and-Whirls Theorem proves that if M is a 3-connected matroid other than a wheel or a whirl, then M has a 3-connected minor N such that | E (M) | - | E (N) | = 1. Geelen and Whittle extended this theorem by showing that when M is sequentially 4-connected, the minor N can also be guaranteed to be sequentially 4-connected, that is, for every 3-separation (X, Y) of N, the set E (N) can be obtained from X or Y by successively applying the operations of closure and coclosure. Hall proved a chain theorem for a different class of 4-connected matroids, those for which every 3-separation has at most five elements on one side. This paper proves a chain theorem for those sequentially 4-connected matroids that also obey this size condition. © 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

Journal of Combinatorial Theory. Series B

First Page

447

Last Page

483

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