Gamma positivity of the descent based Eulerian polynomial in positive elements of classical Weyl groups (Q785567)

Summary: The Eulerian polynomial \(A_n(t)\) enumerating descents in \(\mathfrak{S}_n\) is known to be gamma positive for all \(n\). When enumeration is done over the type B and type D Coxeter groups, the type B and type D Eulerian polynomials are also known to be gamma positive for all \(n\). We consider \(A_n^+(t)\) and \(A_n^-(t)\), the polynomials which enumerate descents in the alternating group \(\mathcal{A}_n\) and in \(\mathfrak{S}_n - \mathcal{A}_n\) respectively. We show the following results about \(A_n^+(t)\) and \(A_n^-(t)\): both polynomials are gamma positive iff \(n \equiv 0,1 \pmod 4\). When \(n \equiv 2,3 \pmod 4\), both polynomials are not palindromic. When \(n \equiv 2 \pmod 4\), we show that two gamma positive summands add up to give \(A_n^+(t)\) and \(A_n^-(t)\). When \(n \equiv 3 \pmod 4\), we show that three gamma positive summands add up to give both \(A_n^+(t)\) and \(A_n^-(t)\). We show similar gamma positivity results about the descent based type B and type D Eulerian polynomials when enumeration is done over the positive elements in the respective Coxeter groups. We also show that the polynomials considered in this work are unimodal.