A combinatorial proof of a refinement of the Andrews-Olsson partition identity (Q1178030): Difference between revisions

For a fixed positive integer \(N\) let \(1\leq a_ 1<a_ 2<\cdots<a_ r<N\) be given. Let \(p_ 1(n)\) denote the number of partitions of \(n\) into distinct parts each of which is congruent to some \(a_ i\pmod N\). Let \(p_ 2(n)\) denote the number of partitions of \(n\) into parts congruent to 0 or any one of the \(a_ i\mod N\), together with some upper-bound gap conditions on the parts. The Andrews-Olsson partition theorem is the assertion that \(p_ 1(n)=p_ 2(n)\). In this paper a combinatorial proof of this is given by constructing a bijection betweeen the two sets of partitions. In doing so, a refinement of this result is obtained. Namely, to every partition \(\pi\) counted by \(p_ 1(n)\), is associated a bi- partition \((\rho,\lambda)\); similarly, to every partition \(\pi'\) counted by \(p_ 2(n)\) is associated a bi-partition \((\rho,\mu)\). For a given \(\rho\), let \(p_ j(n;\rho)\) denote the number of partitions counted by \(p_ j(n)\), with \(\rho\) as the first component, \(j=1,2\). The bijection constructed is used to prove that \(p_ 1(n;\rho)=p_ 2(n;\rho)\).