Quartic theta hypergeometric series (Q385608)

Theta (or elliptic) hypergeometric series are series constructed using the theta factorials, defined for \(n \geq 0\) by \[ [x;p,q]_n := \prod_{k=0}^{n-1}\langle q^kx;p \rangle, \] where \[ \langle x;p \rangle := \prod_{n=0}^{\infty} (1-xp^n)(1-p^{n+1}/x). \] In the authors' words, a theta hypergeometric series is \textit{quartic} if ``the theta factorials in (the) numerator can be paired off with those in (the) denominator such that for each pair, the product of the two bases always equals \(q^5\) and the two corresponding parameters have almost the same product, apart from some lower powers of \(q\).'' (p. 24). In this paper, the authors use Abel's lemma on summation by parts to prove identities for quartic theta hypergeometric series. Abel's lemma says that for two sequences \(\mathcal{U}_k\) and \(\mathcal{V}_k\), we have \[ \sum_{k=0}^{n-1} \mathcal{V}_k\nabla\mathcal{U}_k = \mathcal{U}_{n-1}\mathcal{V}_n - \mathcal{U}_{-1}\mathcal{V}_0 + \sum_{k=0}^{n-1} \mathcal{U}_k\triangle\mathcal{V}_k, \] where the backward and forward difference operators for an arbitrary complex sequence \(\{\tau_k\}\) are defined, respectively, by \[ \nabla \tau_k := \tau_k - \tau_{k-1} \] and \[ \triangle \tau_k := \tau_k - \tau_{k+1}. \] The authors consider four types of quartic series in three parameters, called \(A_n(a,b,d)\), \(B_n(a,c,e)\), \(C_n(a,b,d)\), and \(D_n(a,c,e)\). For each type \(X_n\) (and in several different ways), they decompose the summand as \(\mathcal{V}_k\nabla \mathcal{U}_k\) so that the sum of the \(\mathcal{U}_k\triangle \mathcal{V}_k\) may be again expressed in terms of \(X_n\), with the parameters possibly multiplied by powers of \(q\). (The differences \(\nabla\mathcal{U}_k\) and \(\triangle\mathcal{V}_k\) are evaluated using Weierstrass' three-term relation.) They then iterate the expression to obtain a general transformation and specialize parameters to obtain identities. To illustrate the type of identity obtained, we transcribe Corollary 2.11: \[ \sum_{k=0}^m\langle q^{5k-4m};p\rangle \frac{[q^{4m-2}d^2;p,q]_k[q^{-4m}; p,q^4]_k [d;p,q^4]_k[q^{1-4m}/d;p,q^2]_k[q^{2-4m}/d;p,q^2]_k[q^{3-4m}/d;p,q^2]_k}{[q;p,q]_k[q^{1-4m}/d;p,q]_k[q^{6-8m}/d^2;p,q^4]_{k}[d;p,q]_{3k}}q^k = 0. \]