Bruhat order for two flags and a line (Q1772218)

The classical Ehresmann-Bruhat order describes the possible degenerations of a pair of flags in a linear space \(V\) under linear transformations of \(V\); or equivalently, it describes the closure of an orbit of \(\text{GL}(V)\) acting diagonally on the product of two flag varieties. The author considers the degenerations of a triple consisting of two flags and a line, or equivalently the closure of an orbit of \(\text{GL}(V)\) acting diagonally on the product of two flag varieties and a projective space. The important feature of this situation is that this action of \(\text{GL}(V)\) has only finitely many orbits. A simple rank criterion is given to decide whether one triple can degenerate to another. The author also classifies the minimal degenerations, which involve not only reflections (i.e., transpositions) in the Weyl group \(S_n\), \(n =\dim(V)\), but also cycles of arbitrary length. The proofs use only elementary linear algebra and combinatorics.