The \(p\)-adic valuations of sums of binomial coefficients (Q2666456)

Summary: In this paper, we prove three supercongruences on sums of binomial coefficients conjectured by \textit{Z.-W. Sun} [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 134, No. 8, 2213--2222 (2006; Zbl 1154.11009)]. Let \(p\) be an odd prime and let \(h\in\mathbb{Z}\) with \(2h-1\equiv0\pmod p\). For \(a\in \mathbb{Z}^+\) and \(p^a>3\), we show that \[ \sum_{k = 0}^{p^a - 1} \binom{hp^a-1}{k} \binom{2k}{k}(-(h/2))^k \equiv 0\pmod{p^{a + 1}}. \] Also, for any \(n\in \mathbb{Z}^+\), we have \[ \nu_p\left(\sum_{k = 0}^{n - 1} \binom{hn-1}{k}\binom{2k}{k} (-(h/2))^k\right)\geq \nu_p(n), \] where \(\nu_p( n)\) denotes the \(p\)-adic order of \(n\). For any integer \(m\equiv0\pmod p\) and positive integer \(n\), we have \[ (1/p n)\left(\sum_{k = 0}^{p n - 1}\binom{pn - 1}{k}\left(\binom{2k}{k}/(-m)^k\right) - (m(m-4)/p) \sum_{k = 0}^{n - 1} \binom{n - 1}{k}\left(\binom{2k}{k}/(-m)^k\right)\right) \in \mathbb{Z}_p, \] where (\(\dot{-}\)) is the Legendre symbol and \(\mathbb{Z}_p\) is the ring of \(p\)-adic integers.