Polynomials with Palindromic and Unimodal Coefficients

Let f(q) = ar qr+ ··· + as qs, with ar = 0 and as = 0, be a real polynomial. It is a palindromic polynomial of darga n if r + s = n and ar+i = as-i for all i. Polynomials of darga n form a linear subspace Pn(q) of R(q)n+1 of dimension n2 + 1. We give transition matrices between two bases qj(1 + q + ··· + qn-2j), qj(1 + q)n-2j and the standard basis qj(1 + qn-2j)of Pn(q).We present some characterizations and sufficient conditions for palindromic polynomials that can be expressed in terms of these two bases with nonnegative coefficients. We also point out the link between such polynomials and rank-generating functions of posets.