On interval clutters

Graphical representations of clutters

We discuss the use of K-terminal networks to represent arbitrary clutters. A given clutter has many di¤erent representations, and there does not seem to be any set of simple transformations that can be used to transform one representation of a clutter into any other. We observe that for t 2 the class of clutters that can be represented using no more than t terminals is closed under minors, and ...

Ideal clutters

From Clutters to Matroids

This paper deals with the question of completing a monotone increasing family of subsets Γ of a finite set Ω to obtain the dependent sets of a matroid. Specifically, we provide several natural processes for transforming the clutter Λ of the inclusionminimal subsets of the family Γ into the set of circuits C(M) of a matroid M with ground set Ω. In addition, by combining these processes, we prove...

On ideal minimally non-packing clutters

We consider the following conjecture proposed by Cornuéjols, Guenin and Margot: every ideal minimally non-packing clutter has a transversal of size 2. For a clutter C, let C̃ denote the set of hyperedges of C which intersect any minimum transversal in exactly one element. We divide the (non-)existence problem of an ideal minimally non-packing clutter D into two steps. In the first step, we give ...

On Ideal Clutters, Metrics and Multiflows

Abs t rac t . "Binary clutters" contain various objects studied in Combinatorial Optimization, such as paths, Chinese Postman Tours, multiflows and one-sided circuits on surfaces. Minimax theorems about these can be generalized in terms of ideal binary clutters. Seymour has conjectured a characterization of these, and the goal of the present work is to study this conjecture in terms of multiflo...