On the number of even and odd strings along the overpartitions of \(n\) (Q2453485)

Let \(A_k(n)\) (resp. \(B_k(n)\)) denote the number of odd (resp. even) strings starting from \(2k-1\) along the overpartitions of \(n\). In a recent preprint (see reference [4] [``The first positive rank and crank moments for overpartitions'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:1309.0381}], \textit{G.E. Andrews} et al. showed that for all \(n \geq 1\), \[ \sum_{k=1}^{\lfloor (n+1)/2 \rfloor} (A_k(n) - B_k(n)) \] has positive coefficients, and they conjectured that \[ A_k(n) - B_k(n) \geq 0 \] for all \(k,n \geq 1\). The first main result in the paper under review is that for \(k \geq 1\) and for large enough \(n\), \[ A_k(n) - B_k(n) > 0. \] This result is established by applying the circle method to the partial theta functions which generate the numbers \(A_k(n) - B_k(n)\). Next define \(h(q)\) by \[ h(q) := \sum_{n \geq 1} \frac{(-1)^{n+1}q^{n(n+1)/2}}{1-q^n}. \] Andrews et al. in [loc. cit.] also conjectured that for any \(m \geq 2\), \[ \frac{1}{(q)_{\infty}}(h(q) - mh(q^m)) \] has positive coefficients, where \[ (q)_{\infty} := (1-q)(1-q^2)(1-q^3) \cdots \] The second main result in the present paper is that this conjecture is true asymptotically. The proof is similar to the proof of the first main result. The authors also provide a combinatorial interpretation for the coefficients of \(h(q^m)/(q)_{\infty}\).