Abstract 3-Rigidity and Bivariate $C_2^1$-Splines II: Combinatorial Characterization

Abstract: We showed in the first paper of this series that the generic $C_2<sup>1$-cofactor matroid is the unique maximal abstract $3$-rigidity matroid. In this paper we obtain a combinatorial characterization of independence in this matroid. This solves the cofactor counterpart of the combinatorial characterization problem for the rigidity of generic 3-dimensional bar-joint frameworks. We use our characterization to verify that the counterparts of conjectures of Dress (on the rank function) and Lov\'{a}sz and Yemini (which suggested a sufficient connectivity condition for rigidity) hold for this matroid.