On a pair of identities from Ramanujan's lost notebook (Q1928574): Difference between revisions

The two identities of the title are \[ \sum_{n \geq 0} \frac{q^{2n^2}(-aq;q^2)_n(-q/a;q^2)_n}{(q^2;q^2)_{2n}} = \frac{f(aq^3,q^3/a)}{(q^2;q^2)_{\infty}} \] and \[ \sum_{n \geq 0} \frac{q^{n^2}(-aq;q^2)_n(-q/a;q^2)_n}{(q;q^2)_{n}(q^4;q^4)_n} = \frac{f(aq^2,q^2/a)(-q;q^2)_{\infty}}{(q^2;q^2)_{\infty}}, \] where \[ (a;q)_n := (1-a)(1-aq)\cdots (1-aq^{n-1}) \] and \[ f(a,b) := \sum_{j \in \mathbb{Z}} a^{j(j+1)/2}b^{j(j-1)/2} = (-a;ab)_{\infty}(-b;ab)_{\infty}(ab;ab)_{\infty}. \] The authors establish three similar identities and show that two other closely related \(q\)-series are false theta functions. They give some combinatorial consequences, and also explain how to view the sum-to-product identities as base cases of infinite families.