Congruences for a mock modular form on \(\mathrm{SL}_2(\mathbb{Z})\) and the smallest parts function (Q1748131)

Let spt\((n)\) denote the number of smallest parts in the partitions of \(n\). It is an interesting that spt\((n)\) function satisfies similar congruences to the Ramanujan congruences. Note that if \(n\) is not a natural number then spt\((n)\) is defined to be zero. In the paper under review, the authors study the coefficients of a mock modular form of weight \(3/2\) on \(\mathrm{SL}_2(\mathbb{Z})\) modulo primes \( \ell \geq 5\). These coefficients are related with spt\((n)\). There two applications in the paper. As a first one, the authors give a new proof of a theorem of \textit{F. G. Garvan} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 364, No. 9, 4847--4873 (2012; Zbl 1286.11165)] regarding the properties of this function modulo \(\ell\). As another application, they show that congruences modulo \(\ell\) for the smallest parts function are rare in a precise sense.