The rank function of a positroid and non-crossing partitions (Q2288176)

Summary: A positroid is a special case of a realizable matroid, that arose from the study of totally nonnegative part of the Grassmannian by \textit{A. Postnikov} [``Total positivity, Grassmannians, and networks'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:math/0609764}]. Postnikov demonstrated that positroids are in bijection with certain interesting classes of combinatorial objects, such as Grassmann necklaces and decorated permutations [\textit{S. Oh}, J. Comb. Theory, Ser. A 118, No. 8, 2426--2435 (2011; Zbl 1231.05061)]. The bases of a positroid can be described directly in terms of the Grassmann necklace and decorated permutation. In this paper, we show that the rank of an arbitrary set in a positroid can be computed directly from the associated decorated permutation using non-crossing partitions.