Séminaire Lotharingien de Combinatoire, B78c (2020), 17 pp.

Spencer Backman and Matthias Lenz

A Convolution Formula for Tutte Polynomials of Arithmetic Matroids and Other Combinatorial Structures

Abstract. In this note we generalize the convolution formula for the Tutte polynomial of Kook, Reiner, and Stanton and of Etienne and Las~Vergnas to a more general setting that includes both arithmetic matroids and delta-matroids. As corollaries, we obtain new proofs of two positivity results for pseudo-arithmetic matroids and a combinatorial interpretation of the arithmetic Tutte polynomial at infinitely many points in terms of arithmetic flows and colorings. We also exhibit connections with a decomposition of Dahmen-Micchelli spaces and lattice point counting in zonotopes.


Received: April 1, 2017. Accepted: March 14, 2019. Final Version: January 26, 2020.

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