Rooted Graph Minors and Reducibility of Graph Polynomials

TL;DR

This paper investigates the graph-theoretic properties related to the reducibility of graph polynomials, which are crucial for evaluating Feynman integrals, and provides structural characterizations of graphs avoiding certain minors.

Contribution

It proves that reducibility is a graph minor closed property for fixed external momenta and no masses, correcting previous proofs and identifying forbidden minors in specific cases.

Findings

Reducibility is minor closed for fixed external momenta and no masses.

Identified forbidden minors such as K4, W4, and K2,4 in graphs with four on-shell external momenta.

Provided structural characterizations of graphs avoiding these minors.

Abstract

In 2009, Brown gave a set of conditions which when satisfied imply that a Feynman integral evaluates to a multiple zeta value. One of these conditions is called reducibility, which loosely says there is an order of integration for the Feynman integral for which Brown's techniques will succeed. Reducibility can be abstracted away from the Feynman integral to just being a condition on two polynomials, the first and second Symanzik polynomials. These polynomials can be defined from graphs, and thus reducibility is a property of graphs. We prove that for a fixed number of external momenta and no masses, reducibility is graph minor closed, correcting the previously claimed proofs of this fact. A computational study of reducibility was undertaken by Bogner and L\"{u}ders who found that for graphs with $4$-on-shell momenta and no masses, $K_{4}$ with momenta on each vertex is a forbidden minor. We add to this and find that when we restrict to graphs with four on-shell external momenta the following graphs are forbidden minors: $K_{4}$ with momenta on each vertex, $W_{4}$ with external momenta on the rim vertices, $K_{2,4}$ with external momenta on the large side of the bipartition, and one other graph. We do not expect that these minors characterize reducibility, so instead we give structural characterizations of the graphs not containing subsets of these minors. We characterize graphs not containing a rooted $K_{4}$ or rooted $W_{4}$ minor, graphs not containing rooted $K_{4}$ or rooted $W_{4}$ or rooted $K_{2,4}$ minors, and also a characterization of graphs not containing all of the known forbidden minors. Some comments are made on graphs not containing $K_{3,4}$, $K_{6}$ or a graph related to Wagner's graph as a minor.