Combinatorial interpretations of congruences for the spt-function

Let spt(n) denote the total number of appearances of the smallest parts in all the partitions of n. In 1988, the second author gave new combinatorial interpretations of Ramanujan’s partition congruences mod 5, 7 and 11 in terms of a crank for weighted vector partitions. In 2008, the first author found Ramanujan-type congruences for the spt-function mod 5, 7 and 13. We give new combinatorial interpretations of the spt-congruences mod 5 and 7. These are in terms of the same crank but for a restricted set of vector partitions. The proof depends on relating the spt-crank with the crank of vector partitions and the Dyson rank of ordinary partitions. We derive a number of identities for spt-crank modulo 5 and 7. We prove the surprising result that all the spt-crank coefficients are nonnegative.     

On the Andrews-Stanley refinement of Ramanujan's partition congruence modulo and generalizations

In a recent study of sign-balanced, labelled posets, Stanley introduced a new integral partition statistic

where denotes the number of odd parts of the partition and is the conjugate of . In a forthcoming paper, Andrews proved the following refinement of Ramanujan's partition congruence mod :

where () denotes the number of partitions of with and is the number of unrestricted partitions of . Andrews asked for a partition statistic that would divide the partitions enumerated by () into five equinumerous classes.

In this paper we discuss three such statistics: the ST-crank, the -quotient-rank and the -core-crank. The first one, while new, is intimately related to the Andrews-Garvan (1988) crank. The second one is in terms of the -quotient of a partition. The third one was introduced by Garvan, Kim and Stanton in 1990. We use it in our combinatorial proof of the Andrews refinement. Remarkably, the Andrews result is a simple consequence of a stronger refinement of Ramanujan's congruence mod . This more general refinement uses a new partition statistic which we term the BG-rank. We employ the BG-rank to prove new partition congruences modulo . Finally, we discuss some new formulas for partitions that are -cores and discuss an intriguing relation between -cores and the Andrews-Garvan crank.

     

Hypergeometric analogues of the arithmetic-geometric mean iteration

The arithmetic-geometric mean iteration of Gauss and Legendre is the two-term iterationa _n +1=(a _n +b _n )/2 and \(b_{n + 1} = \sqrt {a_n b_n } \) witha ₀?1 andb ₀?x. The common limit is₂ F ₁(1/2, 1/2; 1; 1?x ²)^?1 and the convergence is quadratic. This is a rare object with very few close relatives. There are however three other hypergeometric functions for which we expect similar iterations to exist, namely:₂ F ₁(1/2?s ₁, 1/2+s; 1; ·) withs=1/3, 1/4, 1/6. Our intention is to exhibit explicitly these iterations and some of their generalizations. These iterations exist because of underlying quadratic or cubic transformations of certain hypergeometric functions, and thus the problem may be approached via searching for invariances of the corresponding second-order differential equations. It may also be approached by searching for various quadratic and cubic modular equations for the modular forms that arise on inverting the ratios of the solutions of these differential equations. In either case, the problem is intrinsically computational. Indeed, the discovery of the identities and their proofs can be effected almost entirely computationally with the aid of a symbolic manipulation package, and we intend to emphasize this computational approach.     

Cranks andt-cores

Summary New statistics on partitions (calledcranks) are defined which combinatorially prove Ramanujan's congruences for the partition function modulo 5, 7, 11, and 25. Explicit bijections are given for the equinumerous crank classes. The cranks are closely related to thet-core of a partition. Usingq-series, some explicit formulas are given for the number of partitions which aret-cores. Some related questions for self-conjugate and distinct partitions are discussed.This work was partially supported by NSF grant DMS: 8700995Oblatum 16-IX-1989     

Rank–Crank-type PDEs and generalized Lambert series identities

We show how Rank–Crank-type PDEs for higher order Appell functions due to Zwegers may be obtained from a generalized Lambert series identity due to the first author. Special cases are the Rank–Crank PDE due to Atkin and the third author and a PDE for a level 5 Appell function also found by the third author. These two special PDEs are related to generalized Lambert series identities due to Watson, and Jackson, respectively. The first author’s Lambert series identity is a common generalization. We also show how Atkin and Swinnerton-Dyer’s proof using elliptic functions can be extended to prove these generalized Lambert series identities.