Overpartition analogues for the generalized Rogers-Ramanujan identities of Bressoud (Q2066010)

In the paper under review, the authors give some overpartition analogues for the generalized Rogers-Ramanujan identities of [\textit{D. M. Bressoud}, J. Comb. Theory, Ser. A 27, 64--68 (1979; Zbl 0416.10009)]. More precisely, an overpartition of \(n\) is a non-increasing sequence of natural numbers whose sum is \(n\) in which the first occurrence (equivalently, the final occurrence) of a number can be overlined [\textit{S. Corteel} and \textit{J. Lovejoy}, Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 356, No. 4, 1623--1635 (2004; Zbl 1040.11072)]. In the paper under review, the authors ``use the frequency sequence notation \((f_1,f_{\overline{1}},f_2,f_{\overline{2}},f_3,\dots)\) for an overpartition, where \(f_j\) counts the number of non-overlined parts of size \(j\) and \(f_{\overline{j}}\) counts the number of overlined parts of size \(j.\)'' After recalling some more definitions, the main results of the paper are Theorem 1.5, Theorem 1.8, and Theorem 1.9 quoted below. First, one recalls the following standard \(q\)-series notations: \[(a;q)_n=\prod_{i=0}^{n-1}(1-aq^i),\] \[(a;q)_{\infty}:=\lim_{n\rightarrow \infty}(a;q)_n,\] and \[(a_1,\dots,a_k;q)_{\infty}:=(a_1;q)_{\infty}\dots (a_k;q)_{\infty}.\] Definition 1.1. Let \(k\geq 2\) and \(k>a\geq 1.\) For \(n\geq 0,\) \(\overline{C}_{k,a}(n)\) counts the number of overpartitions of \(n\) satisfying the following conditions: (i) \(f_1\leq a-1\); (ii) \(f_l+f_{l+1}\leq k-2.\) A theorem of \textit{W. Y. C. Chen} et al. [Ramanujan J. 36, No. 1--2, 69--80 (2015; Zbl 1310.11104)] states that \[\sum_{n\geq 0} \overline{B}_{k,a,0}(n)q^n=\frac{(-q;q)_{\infty}(q^a,q^{2k-1-a},q^{2k-1};q^{2k-1})_{\infty}}{(q;q)_{\infty}},\] where for \(k\geq 2\) and \(k>a\geq 1,\) \(\overline{B}_{k,a,0}(n)\) denotes the number of overpartitions of \(n\) such that (i) \(f_1\leq a-1;\) (ii) \(f_l+f_{\overline{l}}+f_{l+1}\leq k-1;\) (iii) if \(f_l+f_{\overline{l}}+f_{l+1}= k-1,\) then \(l(f_l+f_{\overline{l}})+(l+1)f_{l+1}\equiv V(l)+a-1\pmod 2,\) where \(V(l):=f_{\overline{1}}+\dots+f_{\overline{l}}.\) Theorem 1.5. Let \(k>a\geq 1.\) Then, for any \(n\geq 0,\) \[\overline{C}_{k,a}(n)=\overline{B}_{k,a,0}(n).\] The authors of the paper under review remark that Theorem 1.5 follows directly from Definition 1.1, the Rogers-Ramanujan-Gordon identities (see Theorem 1.1 or [\textit{B. Gordon}, Am. J. Math. 83, 393--399 (1961; Zbl 0100.27303)]) and the Chen-Sang-Shi's theorem mentioned above, however they provide a combinatorial proof by showing a bijection between sets counted by \(\overline{C}_{k,a}(n)\) and \(\overline{B}_{k,a,0}(n).\) Theorem 1.8. For \(k>a\geq 1,\) \[\sum_{n\geq 0}\overline{U}^e_{2k,2a}(n)q^n=\frac{(-q;q)_{\infty}(q^{2a},q^{4k-2a-2},q^{4k-2};q^{4k-2})_{\infty}}{(q^2;q^2)_{\infty}},\] and \[\sum_{n\geq 0}\overline{U}^o_{2k,2a}(n)q^n=\frac{(-q^2;q^2)^2_{\infty}(q^{2a},q^{4k-2a-2},q^{4k-2};q^{4k-2})_{\infty}}{(q^2;q^2)_{\infty}}.\] Theorem 1.9. For \(k>a\geq 0,\) \[\sum_{n\geq 0}\tilde{U}^e_{2k+1,2a+1}(n)q^n=\frac{(-q;q)_{\infty}(q^{2a+1},q^{4k-2a-1},q^{4k};q^{4k})_{\infty}}{(q^2;q^2)_{\infty}},\] and \[\sum_{n\geq 0}\tilde{U}^o_{2k+1,2a+1}(n)q^n=\frac{(-q^2;q^2)^2_{\infty}(q^{2a+1},q^{4k-2a-1},q^{4k};q^{4k})_{\infty}}{(q^2;q^2)_{\infty}}.\] In the above, the definition of \(\overline{U}_{k,a}^e(n)\) (resp. \(\overline{U}_{k,a}^o(n)\)) is given in Definition 1.5 (resp. Definition 1.6) of the paper. These are again to count the number of overpartitions of \(n\) satisfying suitable conditions. In the case when \(k\) and \(a\) are both even, the authors obtain Theorem 1.8. For odd \(k\) and \(a\), it seems that no nice identities can be found, so the authors define \(\tilde{U}^e_{2k+1,2a+1}(n)\) and \(\tilde{U}^o_{2k+1,2a+1}(n)\) by taking suitable subsets in Section 5. This leads to Theorem 1.9. The strategy of proving both Theorem 1.8 and 1.9 depends on the counting functions \(\overline{V}^e_{k,a}(n)\) and \(\overline{V}^o_{k,a}(n)\) (see Definitions 4.1 and 4.2), which yield nice identities (Theorem 4.1). The proof of Theorems 1.8 and 1.9, given in Section 5, is analogous to that of Theorem 1.5 and involves an elaborate process of showing that two corresponding sets are in bijection. In conclusion, the authors give multisum generating functions for \(\overline{U}^e_{2k,2a}(n)\) and \(\overline{U}^o_{2k,2a}(n)\) in the last section.