On the total number of ones of partitions associated to cranks (Q6085343)

A partition \(\pi\) of a nonnegative integer \(n\) is a sequence of positive integers \(\pi_1\geq\pi_2\geq\cdots\geq\pi_k>0\) such that \(\sum_{i=1}^k\pi_i=n\). The \(\pi_i\) are called the parts of \(\pi\). To provide a combinatorial interpretation of Ramanujan's celebrated congruences on \(p(n)\), \textit{F. J. Dyson} [Eureka (Cambridge), 8, 10--15 (1944)] defined the rank of a partition \(\lambda\), which is the largest part of the partition minus the number of parts. He conjectured that this partition statistic can interpret Ramanujan's congruences modulo \(5\) and \(7\) combinatorially. However, it can not give a combinatorial interpretation for Ramanujan's congruence modulo \(11\). Therefore, Dyson further conjectured that there exists another partition statistic that he named ``crank'', which can interpret Ramanujan's congruence modulo \(11\) combinatorially. In 1988, this partition statistic was eventually discovered by \textit{G .E. Andrews} and \textit{F. G. Garvan} [Bull. Am. Math. Soc., New Ser. 18, No. 2, 167--171 (1988; Zbl 0646.10008)]. Recently, George Beck introduced two partition statistics \(NT(r,m,n)\) and \(M_\omega(r,m,n)\), which denote the total number of parts in the partitions of \(n\) with rank congruent to \(r\) modulo \(m\) and the total number of ones in the partitions of \(n\) with crank congruent to \(r\) modulo \(m\), respectively, that is, \begin{align*} NT(r,m,n) &:=\sum_{\substack{\lambda\vdash n\\ \textrm{rank}(\lambda)\equiv r\pmod{m}}}\#(\lambda),\\ M_\omega(r,m,n) &:=\sum_{\substack{\lambda\vdash n\\ \textrm{crank}(\lambda)\equiv r\pmod{m}}}\omega(\lambda), \end{align*} where \(\#(\lambda)\) and \(\omega(\lambda)\) denote the number of parts of \(\lambda\) and the number of ones in \(\lambda\). Beck posed the following conjectural congruences: \begin{align*} &NT(1,5,5n+i)+2NT(2,5,5n+i)\\ &\qquad-NT(3,5,5n+i)-NT(4,5,5n+i)\equiv0\pmod{5},\tag{AB-cong-1}\\ &NT(1,7,7n+j)+NT(2,7,7n+j)\\ &\qquad-NT(3,7,7n+j)+NT(4,7,7n+j)\\ &\qquad-NT(5,7,7n+j)-NT(6,7,7n+j)\equiv0\pmod{7},\tag{AB-cong-2} \end{align*} where \(i\in\{1,4\}\) and \(j\in\{1,5\}\). The congruences (AB-cong-1) and (AB-cong-2) were later confirmed by \textit{G. E. Andrews} [Int. J. Number Theory 17, No. 2, 239--249 (2021; Zbl 1465.11200)]. Soon after, \textit{R. Mao} [Ramanujan J. 58 (2022), no. 4, 1201--1243; Zbl 1502.11105] proved the following two identities which contain (AB-cong-2) as special cases. \begin{align*} &\sum_{n=0}^\infty\big(NT(1,7,7n+5)-NT(6,7,7n+5)\\ &\quad+3NT(2,7,7n+5)-3NT(5,7,7n+5)\big)q^n =-7\dfrac{J_7^5J_{3,7}}{J_{1,7}J_{2,7}^2},\tag{Mao-iden-1}\\ &\sum_{n=0}^\infty\big(NT(1,7,7n+4)-NT(6,7,7n+4)\\ &\quad+2NT(3,7,7n+4)-2NT(4,7,7n+4)\big)q^n =-7\dfrac{J_7^5J_{3,7}^2}{J_{1,7}J_{2,7}^3},\tag{Mao-iden-2} \end{align*} where \begin{gather*} (a;q)_\infty:=\prod_{j=0}^\infty(1-aq^j),\\ J_{a,b}:=(q^a;q^b)_\infty(q^{b-a};q^b)_\infty(q^b;q^b)_\infty, \qquad J_a:=(q^a;q^a)_\infty. \end{gather*} The objective of this paper is to derive some identities on \(M_\omega(r,7,n)\) similar to (Mao-iden-1) and (Mao-iden-2). These identities imply some congruences which were conjectured by \textit{S. H. Chan}, \textit{R. Mao} and \textit{R. Osburn} [J. Math. Anal. Appl. 495 (2021), no. 2, Paper No. 124771, 14 pp; Zbl 1464.11106] and proved by \textit{S. Chern} [Int. J. Number Theory 18 (2022), No. 1, 141--163; Zbl 1491.11095]. Two identities proved in this paper are that \begin{align*} &\sum_{n=0}^\infty\big(M_\omega(2,7,7n+1)-M_\omega(5,7,7n+1)\\ &\quad+4(M_\omega(3,7,7n+1)-M_\omega(4,7,7n+1))\big)q^n\\ &\qquad=-7{\left(\dfrac{J_7^2}{J_{1,7}}\sum_{n=0}^\infty {\left(\dfrac{q^{7n+3}}{1-q^{7n+3}}-\dfrac{q^{7n+4}}{1-q^{7n+4}}\right)}\right)} +14q\dfrac{J_7^5}{J_{2,7}^2}+7q\dfrac{J_{2,7}J_7^5}{J_{1,7}J_{3,7}^2},\\ &\sum_{n=0}^\infty\big(M_\omega(1,7,7n+6)-M_\omega(6,7,7n+6)\\ &\quad+2(M_\omega(3,7,7n+6)-M_\omega(4,7,7n+6))\big)q^n\\ &\qquad=7{\left(\dfrac{J_7^2J_{1,7}}{J_{2,7}J_{3,7}}\sum_{n=0}^\infty {\left(\dfrac{q^{7n+3}}{1-q^{7n+3}}-\dfrac{q^{7n+4}}{1-q^{7n+4}}\right)}\right)} +7\dfrac{J_7^5J_{1,7}^2}{J_{2,7}^2J_{3,7}^2}. \end{align*} The main ingredients in the proofs of the main results are some \(q\)-series identities and some neat \(q\)-series manipulations. Finally, the authors pose several questions that merit further investigation.