On the distribution of odd values of \(2^a\)-regular partition functions (Q740365)

An \(m\)-regular partition is a partition whose parts are not divisible by \(m\). If \(b_m(n)\) denotes the number of \(m\)-regular partitions of \(n\), then we have the generating function \[ \sum_{n \geq 0} b_m(n)q^n = \prod_{n \geq 1} \frac{1-q^{mn}}{1-q^n}. \] Let \(a\) and \(j\) be positive integers and let \(i\) be an odd positive integer. The authors' main result is that \[ \#\{0 \leq n \leq X : b_{2^a}(n) \equiv i \pmod{2^j} \} \gg S(X), \] where \[ S(X) = \begin{cases} \sqrt{X}, & \text{if \(a = 1\) or \(2\)}, \\ \frac{X}{\log X}, & \text{if \(a \geq 3\) is odd}, \\ \frac{X}{\log X}(\log \log X)^{2^{a/2-1}-2}, & \text{if \(a \geq 4\) is even}. \end{cases} \] To prove the result, they first prove a key lemma which states that if \(f = \sum_{n \geq 1} a(n)q^n\) is an integral weight cusp form and \[ \#\{0 \leq n \leq X : a(n) \equiv 1 \pmod{2} \} \gg R(X), \] then \[ \#\{0 \leq n \leq X : a(n) \equiv i \pmod{2^j} \} \gg R(X). \] Together with the fact that the generating function for \(b_{2^a}(n)\) is congruent to a cusp form modulo \(2^j\), this reduces the problem to the case \((i,j) = (1,1)\). In this case the estimate follows from the triple product identity for \(a=1\) or \(2\), while for \(a \geq 3\) it follows from the fact that the Hecke operators act nilpotently modulo \(2\) on appropriate spaces of cups forms.