Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomials for certain varieties of incomplete flags (Q1381836)

Kazhdan and Lusztig have introduced the so-called \(P\)-polynomials \(P_{x,y}(q)\) for each pair \((x,y)\) of elements of a Coxeter group \(W\) with \(x\prec y\), where \(\prec\) denotes the Bruhat order of \(W\). The polynomial \(P_{x,y}(q)\) is a measure for the singularity of the Schubert variety \(V_y\) at the generic point of \(V_x\) in the sense that \(V_y\) is smooth along the generic point of \(V_x\) if and only if \(P_{x,y}(q)=1\). In general it is very hard to calculate the polynomials \(P_{x,y}(q)\). The authors give some explicit formulas for \(P_{x,y}(q)\) in the case \(W\) is the symmetric group \(S_n\) and \(y\) is a particular permutation associated to any flag variety, while \(x\) is arbitrary.