Towards a splitter theorem for internally 4-connected binary matroids IX: The theorem

Abstract

Let M be a binary matroid that is internally 4-connected, that is, M is 3-connected, and one side of every 3-separation is a triangle or a triad. Let N be an internally 4-connected proper minor of M. In this paper, we show that M has a proper internally 4-connected minor with an N-minor that can be obtained from M either by removing at most three elements, or by removing some set of elements in an easily described way from one of a small collection of special substructures of M.