Sorting orders, subword complexes, Bruhat order and total positivity

Abstract

In this note we construct a poset map from a Boolean algebra to the Bruhat order which unveils an interesting connection between subword complexes, sorting orders, and certain totally nonnegative spaces. This relationship gives a simple new proof that the proper part of Bruhat order is homotopy equivalent to the proper part of a Boolean algebra — that is, to a sphere. We also obtain a geometric interpretation for sorting orders. We conclude with two new results: that the intersection of all sorting orders is the weak order, and the union of sorting orders is the Bruhat order.