Identities behind some congruences for \(r\)-Bell and derangement polynomials (Q2221680)

The Bell numbers \(B_n\) counts the number of partitions of a given set of \(n\) elements. The \(r\)-Bell numbers \(B_{n,r}\) extends this definition of Bell numbers \(B_n\) and counts partitions of a set of \(n+r\) elements such that \(r\) chosen elements are separated. The \(r\)-Stirling numbers of the second kind with parameters \(n\) and \(k\), denoted by \(\left\{ \substack{n\\ k} \right\}_r\), enumerates the number of partitions of a set with \(n\) elements consisting of exactly \(k+r\) sets. \(B_{n,r}\) can then be clearly written as \(B_{n,r}=\sum_{k=0}^n\) \(\left\{ \substack{n\\ k} \right\}_r\). In this paper under review, the author generalized the existing congruences bounding \(r\)-Bell polynomials and derangement polynomials given by \[ B_{n,r}(x)=\sum_{k=0}^n\left\{ \begin{matrix} n\\ k \end{matrix} \right\}_rx^k,x\in\mathbb{R}\text{ and }D_n(x)=\sum_{k=0}^n\binom{n}{k}k!(x-1)^{n-k}\text{ respectively.} \] In fact, the results in this paper also led to some new congruences. The author proves the following results. Theorem 1. For any prime \(p\) and non negative integers \(a,r\geq0\), we have \[ (-x)^r(B_{p^a-1,r}(x)-1)\equiv\left(\sum_{l=1}^ax^{p^l-p}D_{p+r-1}(1-x)\right)\pmod{p\mathbb Z[x]}. \] If, additionally, \(r\geq 1\), it holds \[ (-x)^r(B_{p^a-1,r}(x)-1)\equiv-\left(\sum_{l=1}^ax^{p^l}D_{r-1}(1-x)\right)\pmod{p\mathbb Z[x]}. \] Theorem 2. For any integers \(a,m\geq1,n\geq0\) and any prime number \(p\nmid m\), we have \[ (-x)^{m+r}\sum_{i=1}^{p^a-1}\frac{B_{n+i,r}(x)}{(-m)^i}\equiv\left(\sum_{l=1}^{a}x^{p^l}\right)\sum_{k=0}^{n}\left\{ \begin{matrix} n\\ k \end{matrix} \right\}_r(-1)^{k+1}D_{k+m+r-1}(1-x)\pmod{p\mathbb Z_p[x]}, \] where \(\mathbb Z_p\) denotes the ring of \(p\)-adic integers. As a corollary to the above results, several known as well as new congruence relations between \(r\)-Bell polynomials and derangement polynomials are derived. The congruences derived in this paper arose from exact identities, which not only is simpler but also more constructive and informative.