A generalization of Wolstenholme's harmonic series congruence (Q1011059)

Let \(A,B\) be two non-zero integers. Define the Lucas sequence \(\{u_n\}^\infty_{n=0}\) by \(u_0 = 0\), \(u_1 = 1\) and \(u_n = Au_{n-1} - Bu_{n-2}\) for \(n\geq 2\). Its companion sequence \(\{v_n\}^\infty_{n=0}\) is given by \(v_0 = 2\), \(v_1 = A\) and \(v_n = Av_{n-1} - Bv_{n-2}\) for \(n\geq 2\). Let \(\Delta= A^2 - 4B\) be the discriminant of \(\{u_n\}^\infty_{n=0}\) and \(\{v_n\}^\infty_{n=0}\). Let \(p\geq 5\) be a prime. The well-known Wolstenholme's harmonic series congruence asserts that (1) \(\sum^{p-1}_{j=1} \frac 1j \equiv 0\pmod {p^2}\). Later, \textit{W. A. Kimball} and \textit{W. A. Webb} [Applications of Fibonacci numbers. Volume 8 (1998). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 213--218 (1999; Zbl 0958.11006)] proved a generalization of (1) involving the Lucas sequences. Let \(r\) be the rank of apparition of \(p\) in the sequence \(\{u_n\}^\infty_{n=0}\), i.e., \(r\) be the least positive integer such that \(p| u_r\) showing (2) \(\sum^{r-1}_{j=1} \frac {v_j}{u_j}\equiv 0\pmod {p^2}\) provided that \(\Delta = 0\) or \(r = p\pm 1\). In the paper under review the authors extend the result of Kimball and Webb (loc. cit.) to arbitrary Lucas sequences. For any positive integer \(n\), let \(w_n\) be the largest divisor of \(u_n\) prime to \(u_1, u_2, \dots, u_{n-1}\). Here \(w_n\) has been introduced by \textit{H. Hu} and \textit{Z.-W. Sun} [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 129, No. 12, 3471--3478 (2001; Zbl 1077.11502)] in an extension of the Lucas congruence for Lucas' \(u\)-nomial coefficients. The following is proved: Theorem 1.1. Let \(n\geq 5\) be a positive integer. Then \[ \sum^{n-1}_{j=1} \frac {v_j}{u_j}\equiv \frac{(n^2-1)\Delta}{6}\cdot\frac {u_n}{uv_n}\pmod {w_n^2}. \]