Noncrossing partitions for the group D _n

The poset of noncrossing partitions can be naturally defined for any finite Coxeter group W. It is a self-dual, graded lattice which reduces to the classical lattice of noncrossing partitions of {1,2,n} defined by Kreweras in 1972 when W is the symmetric group S _n, and to its type B analogue defined by the second author in 1997 when W is the hyperoctahedral group. We give a combinatorial description of this lattice in terms of noncrossing planar graphs in the case of the Coxeter group of type D _n, thus answering a question of Bessis. Using this description, we compute a number of fundamental enumerative invariants of this lattice, such as the rank sizes, number of maximal chains, and Möbius function. We also extend to the type D case the statement that noncrossing partitions are equidistributed to nonnesting partitions by block sizes, previously known for types A, B, and C. This leads to a (caseby-case) proof of a theorem valid for all root systems: the noncrossing and nonnesting subspaces within the intersection lattice of the Coxeter hyperplane arrangement have the same distribution according to W-orbits.