New congruences modulo 5 for the number of 2-color partitions (Q2517132)

Let \(p_k(n)\) be the number of two-color partitions of \(n\) where parts of the second color are all multiples of \(k\). The generating function for \(p_k(n)\) is \[ \sum_{n \geq 0} p_k(n)q^n = \prod_{n \geq 1} \frac{1}{(1-q^n)(1-q^{kn})}. \] The authors show that for \(k \in \{2,3,4\}\) and \(\ell = 24 - k\) we have the congruence \[ p_k(25n + \ell) \equiv 0 \pmod{5}. \] They also conjecture that the congruence holds for \(k \in \{7,8,17\}\). The proofs employ identities involving the Rogers-Ramanujan continued fraction.