The odd moments of ranks and cranks (Q1758504)

Let \(N(k,n)\) denote the number of partitions of \(n\) with rank \(k\). For any integer \(j \geq 1\) the authors define the \(j\)th rank moment \(\overline{N}_j(n)\) by \[ \overline{N}_j(n) := \sum_{k \geq 1}k^jN(k,n). \] The \(j\)th crank moments \(\overline{M}_j(n)\) are defined similarly. For \(j\) an even integer, rank and crank moments have been extensively studied, but this appears to be the first paper which considers their odd counterparts. The authors compute generating functions for \(\overline{N}_j(n)\) and \(\overline{M}_j(n)\) for all \(j \geq 1\), prove the inequality \(\overline{M}_j(n) > \overline{N}_j(n)\) for all \(j,n \geq 1\), and give combinatorial interpretations for \(\overline{N}_j(n)\), \(\overline{M}_j(n)\), and \(\overline{M}_j(n) - \overline{N}_j(n)\) for all \(j \geq 1\).