Refinement for sequences in partitions (Q2111888)

The \(k\)-measure of a partition \(\lambda\) denoted by \(\mu_k(\lambda)\) is the length of the largest subsequence of parts of \(\lambda\) in which the difference between any two consecutive parts of the subsequence is at least \(k\). It is a new statistic of integer partitions introduced recently by \textit{G. E. Andrews} et al. [Integers 22, Paper A32, 9 p. (2022; Zbl 1494.05007)]. They established a surprising identity that the number of partitions of \(n\) with \(2\)-measure \(m\) is equal to the number of partitions of \(n\) with Durfee square of side \(m\). In the paper under review, the authors obtain the refinement of the result of Andrews et al., which involves two statistics, the smallest part and the length of partitions. Explicitly, they establish a trivariate generating function identity for partitions counting both the length and the \(2\)-measure, with restriction on the smallest parts and the largest parts. For \(s\geq 0\) and \(N\geq 1\), let \(\mathcal{P}_{s,N}\) be the set of all partitions of \(n\) whose smallest parts are at least \(s+1\) and whose largest parts are at most \(s+N\). Let \(d_N^s(t,z,q)=\sum_{\lambda\in \mathcal{P}_{s,N}}t^{\ell(\lambda)}z^{\mu_2(\lambda)}q^{|\lambda|}\), the identity is: \[ d_N^s(t,z,q)=\sum_{j\geq 0}\frac{t^jz^jq^{j^2+js}}{(tq^{s+1};q)_j(tq^{s+N-j+1};q)_j} \times\left(\begin{bmatrix}N-j+1 \\ j\end{bmatrix}-tq^{s+N-j+1}\begin{bmatrix}N-j \\ j-1\end{bmatrix}\right). \] Letting \(N\rightarrow\infty\) in the above identity, the authors obtain an interesting result which involves a new concept called Durfee rectangle, which is a generalization of the famous Durfee square of partitions. For a nonnegative integer \(d\), the \(d\)-Durfee rectangle of a partition means the largest \(n\times (n+d)\) rectangle that fits in the Ferrers graph, the side of this \(d\)-rectangle is defined as the above largest \(n\). The interesting result states that the number of partitions of \(n\) with \(\ell\) parts, \(2\)-measure equal to \(j\) and smallest part no less than \(s+1\) is equal to the number of partitions of \(n\) with \(\ell\) parts, \(s\)-Durfee rectangle of side \(j\) and smallest part no less than \(s+1\). As a corollary of their result, they get the following result which was also established by \textit{G. E. Andrews} et al. [Algebr. Comb. 5, No. 6, 1353--1361 (2022; Zbl 07635161)]. That is, the number of partitions of \(n\) with \(\ell\) parts, \(2\)-measure equal to \(j\) is equal to the number of partitions of \(n\) with \(\ell\) parts, and \(0\)-Durfee square of side \(j\).