On packing 3-connected restrictions into 3-connected matroids (Q1377843)

Let the ground set of a matroid \(M\) be \(E(M)\). Given a \(k\)-connected matroid \(M\) with \(k\)-connected restrictions \(M_1, \dots, M_n\) on disjoint ground sets, the packing question is to find the \(k\)-connected minor \(N\), \(E(M) \subseteq E(N) \subseteq \bigcup E(M_i)\), with \(M_i = N|E(M_i)\) and \(|E(N)|\) minimal. A similar question requiring the \(M_i\)'s to be minors has been studied by \textit{R. E. Bixby} and \textit{C. R. Coullard} [Combinatorica 7, 231-242 (1987; Zbl 0639.05013)]. For history see \textit{J. G. Oxley} [Matroid theory, Oxford University Press (1992; Zbl 0784.05002), Problem 14.4.6]. The two main results of this paper are the cases of simple connectivity and \(3\)-connectivity. In the case of simple connectivity \(N\) can be chosen so that \(E(N) = \bigcup E(M_i)\). In the \(3\)-connected case \(N\) can be chosen to have no more than \(2n-2\) elements outside of \( \bigcup E(M_i)\).