On counting permutations by pairs of congruence classes of major index (Q1597782)

Given a permutation \(\sigma=(a_1,\dots,a_n)\) of \(n\) letters, the number \(i\in\{1,\dots,n-1\}\) is a descent of \(\sigma\) if \(a_{i+1}<a_i\). The major index \(\iota(\sigma)\) is the sum of all descents of~\(\sigma\). Letting \(m_n(i,k;j,l)=\#\{\sigma\in S_n \mid \iota(\sigma)\equiv i\pmod k \& \iota(\sigma^{-1})\equiv j\pmod l\}\) the authors show how results by \textit{B. Gordon} [J. Lond. Math. Soc. 38, 459-464 (1963; Zbl 0119.04105)] and \textit{D. P. Roselle} [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 45, 144-150 (1974; Zbl 0291.05005)] imply that \(m_n(i,k;j,l)=n!/(kl)\) for \(k,l\leq n\) relatively prime. The rest of the paper contains alternative combinatorial and bijective proofs of special cases of this result.