Supercongruences concerning truncated hypergeometric series (Q2070925)

After recalling the \(p\)-adic Gamma function \(\Gamma_p\), the Pochhammer symbol \((x)_k=x(x+1) \cdots (x+k-1)\), the Gaussian hypergeometric function introduced by \textit {J. Greene} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 301, 77--101 (1987; Zbl 0629.12017)], and the Karlsson-Minton formula from the Volume No. 96 of the \textit {Encyclopedia of Mathematics and its Applications} by \textit {G. Gasper} and \textit {M. Rahman} [Basic hypergeometric series. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2004; Zbl 1129.33005)], the authors focus on the truncated hypergeometric series \[ {}_n F_{n-1} \bigg[ \begin{array}{llll} x_1 & x_2 & \ldots & x_n \\ {} & y_1 & \ldots & y_{n-1} \end{array} \bigg| z \bigg]_m = \sum_{k=0}^m \frac{z^k}{k!} \prod_{j=0}^{k-1} \frac{(x_1+j) \cdots (x_n+j)}{(y_1+j) \cdots (y_{n-1}+j)} \] Then the authors establish that, for any integer \(n\ge 3\) and any prime \(p\) with \(p \equiv 1 \pmod{n} \), \[ {}_n F_{n-1}\bigg[\begin{array}{llll} \frac{n-1}{n} & \frac{n-1}{n} & \ldots & \frac{n-1}{n} \\ {} & 1 & \ldots & 1\end{array} \bigg| 1\bigg]_{p-1} \equiv -\Gamma_p \left(\frac{1}{n}\right)^n\pmod{p^3},\] \[ p^n \cdot{}_{n+1}F_n \bigg[\begin{array}{llll} 1 & 1& \ldots & 1 \\ {} & \frac{n+1}{n} & \ldots & \frac{n+1}{n}\end{array}\bigg| 1\bigg]_{p-1} \equiv -\Gamma_p \left(\frac{1}{n}\right)^n\pmod{p^3}. \] The above supercongruences were both conjectured by \textit {A. Deines} et al. [Assoc. Women Math. Ser. 3, 125--159 (2016; Zbl 1376.33005)] while investigating the hypergeometric series \({}_n F_{n-1}\bigg[\begin{array}{llll} \frac{k}{n} & \frac{k}{n} & \ldots & \frac{k}{n} \\ {} & 1 & \ldots & 1 \end{array} \bigg| \lambda \bigg]\), with \(1 \leq k \leq n-1\), as a period of the Legendre curves \(C_{n, \lambda}\). The proof employs an original threefold congruence involving the harmonic numbers of first and second order and two identities about the \(p\)-adic Gamma function available in the Volume No. 198 of the \textit {Graduate Texts in Mathematics} by \textit {A. M. Robert} [A Course in \(p\)-adic Analysis. Springer-Verlag (2000; Zbl 0947.11035)].