Meanders in a Cayley graph

Abstract

A meander of order n is a simple closed curve in the plane which intersects a horizontal line transversely at 2n points. (Meanders which differ by an isotopy of the line and plane are considered equivalent.) Let Gamma_n be the Cayley graph of the symmetric group S_n as generated by all (n choose 2) transpositions. Let Lambda_n be any interval of maximal length in Gamma_n; this graph is the Hasse diagram of the lattice of noncrossing partitions. The meanders of order n are in one-to-one correspondence with ordered pairs of maximally separated vertices of Lambda_n.