Central limit theorem for descents in conjugacy classes of $S_n$

Abstract

The distribution of descents in fixed conjugacy classes of $S_n$ has been studied, and it is shown that its moments have interesting properties. Fulman proved that the descent numbers of permutations in conjugacy classes with large cycles are asymptotically normal, and Kim proved that the descent numbers of fixed point free involutions are also asymptotically normal. In this paper, we generalize these results to prove a central limit theorem for descent numbers of permutations in any conjugacy class of $S_n$.