Parity distribution and divisibility of mex-related partition functions (Q6142772)

Given a partition \(\lambda\) of \(n\), \textit{G. E. Andrews} and \textit{D. Newman} [Ann. Comb. 23, No. 2, 249--254 (2019; Zbl 1458.11011); J. Integer Seq. 23, No. 2, Article 20.2.3, 11 p. (2020; Zbl 1441.11265)] defined the mex-function \(\textrm{mex}_{A,a}(\lambda)\) to be the smallest positive integer congruent to \(a\) modulo \(A\) that does not appear as a part of \(\lambda\). They then defined \(p_{A,a}(n)\) to be the number of partitions \(\lambda\) of \(n\) satisfying \(\textrm{mex}_{A,a}(\lambda)\equiv a \pmod{2A}\). In the paper under review, the authors study the partition function \(p_{mt,t}(n)\) for all positive integers \(m\) and \(t\). First, they prove the generating function for \(p_{mt,t}(n)\) satisfies \[ \sum_{n=0}^{\infty}p_{mt,t}(n)q^n=\frac{1}{(q;q)_{\infty}}\sum_{n=0}^{\infty}(-1)^nq^{\frac{1}{2}(mn^2-(m-2)n)t}. \] By taking \(m=1\) and \(m=2\), they obtain the generating functions for \(p_{t,t}(n)\) and \(p_{2t,t}(n)\) which were obtained before by \textit{G. E. Andrews} and \textit{D. Newman} [J. Integer Seq. 23, No. 2, Article 20.2.3, 11 p. (2020; Zbl 1441.11265)]. Then the authors study the parity distribution of \(p_{mt,t}(n)\). For even values of \(p_{mt,t}(n)\), they show that for all positive integers \(m\) and \(t\) and sufficiently large \(X\), \[ \# \{0\leq n\leq X: p_{mt,t}(n)\equiv 0\pmod 2\}\gg\sqrt{X/3}. \] Their proof is inspired by \textit{S. Ahlgren} [Indag. Math., New Ser. 10, No. 2, 173--181 (1999; Zbl 1027.11079)]. For odd values of \(p_{mt,t}(n)\), they prove that for all \(m\not\equiv 0\pmod 3\), all primes \(p\equiv 1\pmod 3\) and large \(X\), \[ \# \{0\leq n\leq X: p_{mp,p}(n)\equiv 1\pmod 2\}\gg\log\log X. \] Finally, the authors establish identities connecting the ordinary partition function \(p(n)\) to \(p_{mt,t}(n)\) for all positive integers \(m\) and \(t\). They express \(p_{mt,t}(n)\) in terms of \(p(n)\) as follows: \[ p_{mt,t}(n)=p(n)+\sum_{r=1}^{\infty}p(n-tr(2rm-m+2))-\sum_{s=1}^{\infty}p(n-t(2s-1)(sm-m+1)). \] Using the above identity, they further prove \(p_{mt,t}(n)\) satisfies those Ramanujan-type congruences that are satisfied by \(p(n)\). For example, they prove that For all \(k,t\geq 1\), \(m\geq 1\), and for every non-negative integer \(n\), we have \[ p_{m\cdot 5^k t,5^k t}(5^kn+\delta_{5,k})= 0\pmod {5^k}, \] \[ p_{m\cdot 7^k t,7^k t}(7^kn+\delta_{7,k}) = 0\pmod {7^{[k/2]+1}}, \] \[ p_{m\cdot 11^k t,11^k t}(11^kn+\delta_{11,k}) = 0\pmod {11^k}, \] where \(\delta_{p,k}:=1/24 \bmod p^k\) for \(p=5,7,11\).