Representing Matroids over the Reals is $\exists \mathbb R$-complete

A matroid $M$ is an ordered pair $(E,I)$, where $E$ is a finite set called the ground set and a collection $I\subset 2^{E}$ called the independent sets which satisfy the conditions: (i) $\emptyset \in I$, (ii) $I'\subset I \in I$ implies $I'\in I$, and (iii) $I_1,I_2 \in I$ and $|I_1| &...

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Main Authors: Eun Jung Kim, Arnaud de Mesmay, Tillmann Miltzow
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Discrete Mathematics & Theoretical Computer Science 2024-08-01
Series:Discrete Mathematics & Theoretical Computer Science
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Online Access:http://dmtcs.episciences.org/10810/pdf
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author Eun Jung Kim
Arnaud de Mesmay
Tillmann Miltzow
author_facet Eun Jung Kim
Arnaud de Mesmay
Tillmann Miltzow
author_sort Eun Jung Kim
collection DOAJ
description A matroid $M$ is an ordered pair $(E,I)$, where $E$ is a finite set called the ground set and a collection $I\subset 2^{E}$ called the independent sets which satisfy the conditions: (i) $\emptyset \in I$, (ii) $I'\subset I \in I$ implies $I'\in I$, and (iii) $I_1,I_2 \in I$ and $|I_1| < |I_2|$ implies that there is an $e\in I_2$ such that $I_1\cup \{e\} \in I$. The rank $rank(M)$ of a matroid $M$ is the maximum size of an independent set. We say that a matroid $M=(E,I)$ is representable over the reals if there is a map $\varphi \colon E \rightarrow \mathbb{R}^{rank(M)}$ such that $I\in I$ if and only if $\varphi(I)$ forms a linearly independent set. We study the problem of matroid realizability over the reals. Given a matroid $M$, we ask whether there is a set of points in the Euclidean space representing $M$. We show that matroid realizability is $\exists \mathbb R$-complete, already for matroids of rank 3. The complexity class $\exists \mathbb R$ can be defined as the family of algorithmic problems that is polynomial-time is equivalent to determining if a multivariate polynomial with integers coefficients has a real root. Our methods are similar to previous methods from the literature. Yet, the result itself was never pointed out and there is no proof readily available in the language of computer science.
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spelling doaj-art-b7d8f1972a714d3bb745d56c9b0ce6f62025-08-20T03:42:37ZengDiscrete Mathematics & Theoretical Computer ScienceDiscrete Mathematics & Theoretical Computer Science1365-80502024-08-01vol. 26:2Discrete Algorithms10.46298/dmtcs.1081010810Representing Matroids over the Reals is $\exists \mathbb R$-completeEun Jung KimArnaud de MesmayTillmann MiltzowA matroid $M$ is an ordered pair $(E,I)$, where $E$ is a finite set called the ground set and a collection $I\subset 2^{E}$ called the independent sets which satisfy the conditions: (i) $\emptyset \in I$, (ii) $I'\subset I \in I$ implies $I'\in I$, and (iii) $I_1,I_2 \in I$ and $|I_1| < |I_2|$ implies that there is an $e\in I_2$ such that $I_1\cup \{e\} \in I$. The rank $rank(M)$ of a matroid $M$ is the maximum size of an independent set. We say that a matroid $M=(E,I)$ is representable over the reals if there is a map $\varphi \colon E \rightarrow \mathbb{R}^{rank(M)}$ such that $I\in I$ if and only if $\varphi(I)$ forms a linearly independent set. We study the problem of matroid realizability over the reals. Given a matroid $M$, we ask whether there is a set of points in the Euclidean space representing $M$. We show that matroid realizability is $\exists \mathbb R$-complete, already for matroids of rank 3. The complexity class $\exists \mathbb R$ can be defined as the family of algorithmic problems that is polynomial-time is equivalent to determining if a multivariate polynomial with integers coefficients has a real root. Our methods are similar to previous methods from the literature. Yet, the result itself was never pointed out and there is no proof readily available in the language of computer science.http://dmtcs.episciences.org/10810/pdfcomputer science - computational complexitymathematics - combinatorics
spellingShingle Eun Jung Kim
Arnaud de Mesmay
Tillmann Miltzow
Representing Matroids over the Reals is $\exists \mathbb R$-complete
Discrete Mathematics & Theoretical Computer Science
computer science - computational complexity
mathematics - combinatorics
title Representing Matroids over the Reals is $\exists \mathbb R$-complete
title_full Representing Matroids over the Reals is $\exists \mathbb R$-complete
title_fullStr Representing Matroids over the Reals is $\exists \mathbb R$-complete
title_full_unstemmed Representing Matroids over the Reals is $\exists \mathbb R$-complete
title_short Representing Matroids over the Reals is $\exists \mathbb R$-complete
title_sort representing matroids over the reals is exists mathbb r complete
topic computer science - computational complexity
mathematics - combinatorics
url http://dmtcs.episciences.org/10810/pdf
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AT arnauddemesmay representingmatroidsovertherealsisexistsmathbbrcomplete
AT tillmannmiltzow representingmatroidsovertherealsisexistsmathbbrcomplete