YouTube recording: https://youtu.be/UdjhEgSKQus
Time: Thursday, Feb 2, 3pm EST (8pm GMT, 9am Fri NZDT)
Zoom: https://gatech.zoom.us/j/8802082683
Speaker: Tom Zaslavsky, Binghamton University
Title: Matroids of gain signed graphs
Abstract: For standard affinographic hyperplane arrangements (a.k.a. deformations of the Type A root system arrangement or “braid” arrangement), integral gain graphs give a simpler method to compute the characteristic polynomial, a fundamental invariant. For more general affinographic arrangements (a.k.a. deformations of the Type B root system arrangement), one has to combine gains with signs. How to do this has been a puzzle. The obvious method is to put signs on top of gains. The right method is to put gains on top of signs. Laura Anderson, Ting Su, and I found out how to do this, constructing the natural matroid and the corresponding semimatroid, which latter gives the characteristic polynomial of these more general arrangements when the gain group is the additive group of integers. I will explain some of this. It does get complicated.