No label defined (Q4936063)

Let \(S_k(N)= \sum_{j=1}^N \frac{2^j}{j^k}\). The polylogarithms \(S_k(\infty)\) converge 2-adically and \(S_1(\infty)= S_2(\infty)= 0\). Let \(\nu(x)\) denote the highest power of 2 dividing \(x\), i.e. the 2-adic valuation. In the 2-adic valuation, if \(k\geq 3\), \(S_k(N)\) and similar series have a single dominant term and this allows the explicit evaluation: \[ \nu(S_k(N))= 2^{e(k)}- ke(k)+ \delta(k) \] where \(e(k)= \lceil \log_2 k\rceil\), \(\delta(k)= 1\) if \(k\) is a power of 2 and 0 otherwise, and \(N\geq 2^{e(k)+ \delta(k)}\). A variant of partial summation converts \(S_1\) and \(S_2\) to series with the same 2-adic behaviour and resolves a conjecture of Yu: for \(m\geq 4\), \[ \nu(S_1(2^m))= 2^m+ 2m-2, \qquad \nu(S_2(2^m))= 2^m+ m-1. \]