A major index for matchings and set partitions (Q941320)

A classical result of MacMahon states that the statistics inv of the number of inversions and maj of the major index are equidistributed on \(S_n\). In this clearly written paper the authors introduced the statistic \(\mathrm{ pmaj}(P)\) of \(p\)-major index on the set of partitions \(P\) of \([n]\). For any subsets \(S\) and \(T\) of \([n]\) with the same cardinality, let \(P_n(S,T)\) denote the set of partitions of \([n]\) for which \(S\) (resp. \(T\)) is the set of minimal (resp. maximal) block elements. The authors show that \(\mathrm{pmaj}\) and \(\mathrm{cr}_2\) of the number of 2-crossings of the partition are equidistributed on the set \(P_n(S,T)\). In the special case when \(n=2m\), \(S=[m]\) and \(T=[2m]\backslash [m]\), they are able to recover the aforementioned result of MacMahon.