The structure of 3-connected matroids of path width three (Q872056)

A 3-connected matroid \(M\) is sequential or has path width 3 if its ground set \(E(M)\) has a sequential ordering, that is, an ordering \((e_1,\dots, e_n)\) such that \((\{e_1,\dots, e_k\}, \{e_{k+1}, e_{k+2}, \dots, e_n\})\) is a 3-separation for all \(k\) in \(\{3,4,\ldots, n-3\}\). In this paper, the authors consider the possible sequential orderings that such a matroid can have. In particular, they prove that \(M\) essentially has two fixed ends, each of which is a maximal segment, a maximal cosegment, or a maximal fan. The authors also identify the possible structures in \(M\) that account for different sequential orderings of \(E(M)\). These results rely on an earlier paper of the authors [\textit{R. Hall, J. Oxley} and \textit{C. Semple}, Adv. Appl. Math. 35, 123--181 (2005; Zbl 1075.05016)] that describes the structure of equivalent non-sequential 3-separations in a 3-connected matroid. Those results are extended here to describe the structure of equivalent sequential 3-separations.