On two unimodal descent polynomials

Abstract

The descent polynomials of separable permutations and derangements are both demonstrated to be unimodal. Moreover, we prove that the $γ$-coefficients of the first are positive with an interpretation parallel to the classical Eulerian polynomial, while the second is spiral, a property stronger than unimodality. Furthermore, we conjecture that they are both real-rooted.

16 pages, 4 figures