On Degrees in the Hasse Diagram of the Strong Bruhat Order

Abstract

For a permutation $\pi$ in the symmetric group $S_n$ let the {\it total degree} be its valency in the Hasse diagram of the strong Bruhat order on $S_n$, and let the {\it down degree} be the number of permutations which are covered by $\pi$ in the strong Bruhat order. The maxima of the total degree and the down degree and their values at a random permutation are computed. Proofs involve variants of a classical theorem of Turán from extremal graph theory.

14 pages, minor corrections; to appear in Sém. Lothar. Combin