Congruences for coefficients of modular functions in levels 3, 5, and 7 with poles at 0 (Q2187114)

Fix \(p \in \{3, 5, 7\}\), and let \(\phi^{(p)}(z) := \left(\frac{\eta(pz)}{\eta(z)}\right)^{24/(p-1)}\), where \(\eta(z)\) is the Dedekind eta function. Write \[ \phi^{(p)}(z)^m = \sum_{n = m}^\infty a^{(p)}(m, n) q^n, \] for the Fourier expansion of \(\phi^{(p)}(z)^m\), where \(q := e^{2 \pi i z}\). In this paper, the authors extend earlier work in [Arch. Math. 111, No. 4, 369--378 (2018; Zbl 1445.11031)] to prove that \(a^{(p)}(m, p^\alpha n)\) is divisible by \(p\) to a degree which depends on the first \(\alpha\) digits of the base \(p\) expansion of \(m\). The authors prove their main result by repeatedly applying the operator \[ U_p : M_k^!(\Gamma_0(p)) \to M_k^!(\Gamma_0(p)) \ \text{given by} \ U_p : f(z) \mapsto \frac{1}{p} \sum_{j = 0}^{p - 1} f\left(\frac{z + j}{p}\right) \] to each \(\phi^{(p)}(z)^m\). By studying \(U_m^\alpha \left(\phi^{(p)}(z)^m\right) = \sum_{n = m}^\infty a^{(p)}(m, p^\alpha n) q^n\) as a polynomial in the Hauptmodul \(\phi^{(p)}(z)\), Jenkins and Keck are able to extract information about the \(p\)-divisibility of the coefficients of \(U_m^\alpha \left(\phi^{(p)}(z)^m\right)\), which suffices to prove their result. Reviewer's remark: The sequence \((\phi^{(p)}(z)^m)_{m = 0}^\infty\) is a basis for the space of weakly holomorphic modular forms in \(M_k^!(\Gamma_0(p))\) with poles only at the cusp at \(0\). Powers of the Hauptmodul are technically convenient to work with, but this basis does not appear to be distinguished or of independent interest. It would be interesting to see what congruence properties a more canonical basis might have; for instance, does the basis of forms row-reduced at the cusp at 0 exhibit cleaner \(p\)-divisibility? If so, can we understand the \(p\)-divisibility of the sequence \((\phi^{(p)}(z)^m)_{m = 0}^\infty\) as arising from this canonical basis? Regardless of these considerations, the connection between congruences and base-\(p\) expansions is distinctive enough to merit scrutiny.