Inequalities for the overpartition function arising from determinants (Q6056551)

Given a non-negative sequence \(a:=(a_n)_{n\geq 0}\), define the sequence \(b:=(b_n)_{n\geq 0}\) by \(b_n=a_{n}^2-a_{n+1}a_{n-1}\) with \(a_{-1}=0\). We say that \((a_n)_{n\geq 0}\) is log-concave if \(b_n\geq 0\) holds for any \(n\geq 0\), and it is \(2\)-log-concave if both \((a_n)_{n\geq 0}\) and \((b_n)_{n\geq 0}\) are log-concave. It is easy to see that the non-negativity of the following determinant \[ \begin{vmatrix} a(n) & a(n+1) & a(n+2)\\ a(n-1) & a(n) & a(n+1)\\ a(n-2) & a(n-1) & a(n) \end{vmatrix} \] for any \(n\geq 2\) implies the 2-log-concavity of \((a_n)_{n\geq 0}\). In this paper, the author takes \(a(n)\) to be overpartition function \(\bar{p}(n)\), which was introduced by \textit{S. Corteel} and \textit{J. Lovejoy} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 356, No. 4, 1623--1635 (2004; Zbl 1040.11072)], and prove that the above determinant is positive for \(n\geq 42\). A similar result for the usual partition function has already been given in the paper of \textit{D. X. Q. Jia} and \textit{L. X. W. Wang} [Proc. R. Soc. Edinb., Sect. A, Math. 150, No. 3, 1451--1466 (2020; Zbl 1437.05023)]. In fact, the paper under review is mainly motivated by Jia and Wang's work.