A counterexample to the circuit-cocircuit intersection conjecture

Abstract

Oxley conjectured that a matroid with a circuit-cocircuit intersection of size $k\ge 4$ has one of size $k-2$. Using the standard polynomial representation of the classical extended binary Golay code, we construct an identically self-dual binary matroid of rank $12$ on $24$ elements. Its circuit-cocircuit intersection sizes are exactly $0,2,4,6,8$, and $12$, disproving the conjecture for $k=12$. The proof is self-contained and does not rely on the full weight distribution of the code or on an enumeration of all circuits.

arXiv comment7 pages