Arithmetic matroids, the Tutte polynomial and toric arrangements

We introduce the notion of an arithmetic matroid whose main example is a list of elements of a finitely generated abelian group. In particular, we study the representability of its dual, providing an extension of the Gale duality to this setting. Guided by the geometry of generalized tone arrangements, we provide a combinatorial interpretation of the associated arithmetic Tutte polynomial, which can be seen as a generalization of Crapo's formula for the classical Tutte polynomial. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.