Rank and crank moments for overpartitions (Q1024542)

Recall that an overpartition is a partition in which the first occurrence of each distinct number may be overlined. For example, the \(14\) overpartitions of \(14\) are \[ \begin{split} &4,~\overline{4},~3+1,~\overline{3}+1,~3+\overline{1}, ~\overline{3}+\overline{1},~2+2,~\overline{2}+2,~2+1+1 ~\overline{2}+1+1, \\ &\qquad\quad 2+\overline{1}+1, ~\overline{2}+\overline{1}+1, ~1+1+1+1, ~\overline{1}+1+1+1. \end{split} \] Let \(\overline{P}(q)\), \(q=e^{2\pi i\tau}\), denote the generating function for the overpartitions. It is known that \[ \overline{P}(q)=\prod_{n=1}^\infty\frac{1+q^n}{1-q^n}. \] There are two distinct notions of ranks of interest related to overpartitions. One is Dyson's rank of a partition defined by the largest part of the partition minus the number of parts. The other is called the \(M2\)-rank, which is too complicated to describe here. Let \(\overline{M}(m,n)\) (resp. \(\overline{M2}(m,n)\)) denote the number of overpartitions of \(n\) whose rank (resp. \(M2\)-rank) is \(m\) and define the rank moments \(\overline{N}_k(n)\) and \(\overline{N2}_k(n)\), along with their generating functions \(\overline{R}_k\) and \(\overline{R2}_k\) by \[ \overline{R}_k:=\sum_{n=0}^\infty\overline{N}_k(n)q^n =\sum_{n=0}^\infty\left(\sum_{m\in\mathbb Z}m^k\overline{N}(m,n)\right)q^n \] and \[ \overline{R2}_k:=\sum_{n=0}^\infty\overline{N2}_k(n)q^n =\sum_{n=0}^\infty\left(\sum_{m\in\mathbb Z}m^k\overline{N2}(m,n)\right)q^n, \] respectively. The authors also define two ``residual cranks'' of overpartitions and consider the generating functions for the crank moments. (Again, the definition is too complicated to give here.) To state the main results of the paper, let \(\overline{\mathcal W}_k\) be the space of quasimodular forms on \(\Gamma_0(2)\) of weight at most \(2k\) having no constant terms. The authors show that the generating functions of the crank moments and their derivatives, along with certain linear combinations of \(\overline{R}_k\) (resp. \(\overline{R2}_k\)) and their derivatives, are in the space \(\overline{P}\cdot\overline{\mathcal W}_k\). Then they use this result to deduce congruence properties modulo \(3\), \(5\), and \(7\) for some combinatorial functions which may be expressed in terms of the second moments. Finally, they establish a congruence modulo \(3\) involving one such combinatorial function and the Hurwitz class number.