Congruences for sums of binomial coefficients (Q2466039)

For integers \(a, m, n\) and \(r\) such that \(m>0\), \(n\geq 0, \) let \[ \left [ \begin{smallmatrix} n \\ r \end{smallmatrix}\right ] _m (a) = \sum_{\underset{ k \equiv r \pmod m} {0 \leq k \leq n} } \binom nk a^k. \] In this paper, the authors prove the following main result. Theorem 1.2: Let \(q>1 \) be an integer relatively prime to both \(m \in \mathbb {Z}^+ \) and \(\displaystyle{\sum_{j=0}^{m-1} (-a)^j }, \) where \(a \in \mathbb{Z}\). Let \(l \in \mathbb{N}\) and \(r \in \mathbb{Z}\). If \(n, T \in \mathbb{Z}^+ \) and \(\nu_m (q) \mid T\), then we have \[ \sum_{k=0}^{n} (-1)^k \binom nk \left[ \begin{smallmatrix} kT+l \\ r \end{smallmatrix} \right]_m (a) \equiv \frac{(a+1)^l}{m} \left(1-(a+1)^T\right)^n \pmod {q^n}, \] where \(\nu_m(q)\) is some number that can be explicitly evaluated and depends on \(q\). Several interesting corollaries come from this result and one of these is : Theorem: Let \(q>1\), \(m>0\) be relatively prime integers. Let \(a\) be an integer such that \(\gcd(1-(-a)^m, q)=1 \) or \(a \equiv -1 \pmod q\), or \(a \equiv 1 \pmod q\) and \(2\mid m. \) Then for any \(n\in \mathbb{Z}^+ \) and \(r \in \mathbb{Z}\), \[ \left[ \begin{smallmatrix} m+\nu_m(q) \\ r \end{smallmatrix} \right]_m (a) \equiv \left[ \begin{smallmatrix} n \\ r \end{smallmatrix} \right]_m (a) \pmod q. \] It is, of course, an extension of J. W. L. Glaisher's periodic result (1899) that is valid for any odd prime \(p \) and \(n \in \mathbb{Z}^+, r \in \mathbb{Z}\) : \[ \left[ \begin{smallmatrix} n+p-1 \\ r \end{smallmatrix} \right]_{p-1} \equiv \left[ \begin{smallmatrix} n \\ r \end{smallmatrix} \right]_{p-1} \pmod p. \] The proof of their main theorem 1.2 mainly depends on the congruence \((1+a\zeta )^{\nu_m(q)} \equiv 1 \pmod q\) for \(m\)-th root of unity \(\zeta (\neq 1)\), \(a \in \mathbb{Z},\) and \(m \in \mathbb{Z}^+, \) with positive integer \(q\) greater than~1 which is relatively prime to \(\displaystyle{m\sum_{j=0}^{m-1} (-a)^j }.\)