On the Joint Distribution of Descents and Signs of Permutations

Abstract

We study the joint distribution of descents and sign for elements of the symmetric group and the hyperoctahedral group (Coxeter groups of types $A$ and $B$). For both groups, this has an application to riffle shuffling: for large decks of cards the sign is close to random after a single shuffle. In both groups, we derive generating functions for the Eulerian distribution refined according to sign, and use them to give two proofs of central limit theorems for positive and negative Eulerian numbers.