Coefficients and roots of peak polynomials

Abstract

Given a permutation $\pi=\pi_1\pi_2\cdots \pi_n \in \mathfrak{S}_n$, we say an index $i$ is a peak if $\pi_{i-1} < \pi_i > \pi_{i+1}$. Let $P(\pi)$ denote the set of peaks of $\pi$. Given any set $S$ of positive integers, define ${\mathcal{P}_S(n)=\{\pi\in \mathfrak{S}_n:P(\pi)=S\}}$. Billey-Burdzy-Sagan showed that for all fixed subsets of positive integers $S$ and sufficiently large $n$, $|\mathcal{P}_S(n)|=p_S(n)2^{n-|S|-1}$ for some polynomial $p_S(x)$ depending on $S$. They conjectured that the coefficients of $p_S(x)$ expanded in a binomial coefficient basis centered at $\max(S)$ are all positive. We show that this is a consequence of a stronger conjecture that bounds the modulus of the roots of $p_S(x)$. Furthermore, we give an efficient explicit formula for peak polynomials in the binomial basis centered at $0$, which we use to identify many integer roots of peak polynomials along with certain inequalities and identities.