Given a projective algebraic set X, its dual graph G(X) is the graph whose vertices are the irreducible components of X and whose edges connect components that intersect in codimension one. Hartshornes connectedness theorem says that if (the coordina
te ring of) X is Cohen-Macaulay, then G(X) is connected. We present two quantitative variants of Hartshornes result: 1) If X is a Gorenstein subspace arrangement, then G(X) is r-connected, where r is the Castelnuovo-Mumford regularity of X. (The bound is best possible; for coordinate arrangements, it yields an algebraic extension of Balinskis theorem for simplicial polytopes.) 2) If X is a canonically embedded arrangement of lines no three of which meet in the same point, then the diameter of the graph G(X) is not larger than the codimension of X. (The bound is sharp; for coordinate arrangements, it yields an algebraic expansion on the recent combinatorial result that the Hirsch conjecture holds for flag normal simplicial complexes.)
