An interpretation for the Tutte polynomial (Q1283311)

For a matroid \(M\) which is representable over the rational numbers the author gives a new interpretation of the Tutte polynomial \(T_M(x,y)\) associated to \(M\). The Tutte polynomial \(T_M(x,y)\) of a matroid \(M\) is a or may be the fundamental invariant of \(M\). After its definition by \textit{W. T. Tutte} in 1947 [Proc. Camb. Philos. Soc. 43, 26-40 (1947; Zbl 0031.41803)] many authors have exhibited interesting interpretations of coefficients or specializations. In this paper a new interpretation of \(T_M(x,y)\) is given when evaluated at \(x = 1+(p-1)a/b\) and \(y = 1 + (q-1)b/a\), where \(p,q\) are primes and \(a+b = 1\). The theorem requires that \(M\) is representable over the rationals in such a way that an integer matrix defining \(M\) reduces to matrices over the field with \(q\) (resp. \(p\)) elements which again represent the matroid \(M\). The result states that under those assumptions \(T_M(x,y)\) is given as a sum of an expression in the vectors with disjoint support taken from the row span of the matrix of \(M\) mod \(p\) and the kernel mod \(q\). It is shown that this formula subsumes many of the prominent known interpretations of the Tutte polynomial.