Local equivalence of transversals in matroids (Q1379166)

Summary: Given any system of \(n\) subsets in a matroid \(M\), a transversal of this system is an \(n\)-tuple of elements of \(M\), one from each set, which is independent. Two transversals differing by exactly one element are adjacent, and two transversals connected by a sequence of adjacencies are locally equivalent, the distance between them being the minimum number of adjacencies in such a sequence. We give two sufficient conditions for all transversals of a set system to be locally equivalent. Also we propose a conjecture that the distance between any two locally equivalent transversals can be bounded by a function of \(n\) only, and provide an example showing that such function, if it exists, must grow at least exponentially.