The periodicity of the signs of the coefficients of certain infinite products

Many mathematicians (Ramanujan, Richmond, Szekeres and others) have studied certain infinite products arising from continued fractions from the point of view of periodicity of the signs of the Taylor series coefficients. More general theorems of the same sort are proved in this paper. This paper investigates the infinite products \(F_ {m,r,s}=F_ {m,r,s}(q)\) for \(1 \leq r , s<m\) where \[ F_ {m,r,s}(q)=\prod_ {n=0}^ {\infty}\frac{\left(1-q^ {mn+r}\right) \left(1-q^ {mn+m-r}\right)}{\left(1-q^ {mn+s}\right) \left(1-q^ {mn+m-s}\right)}. \] \textit{K. G. Ramanathan} [J. Number Theory 29, No. 2, 118--137 (1988; Zbl 0645.10026)] established the following: Theorem 1.1. Suppose \(\gcd(m, r) = 1\). Let \(F_ {m,2r,s}:= \sum_ {n=0}^ {\infty} c_ n q^ n\). If \(\gcd(m, 6) = 1\), the signs of the \(c_ n\)'s are periodic with period \(m\). Using an idea of \textit{M. D. Hirschhorn} [Ramanujan J. 2, No. 4, 521--527 (1998; Zbl 0924.11005)] the authors provide a new proof of this theorem without the restriction \(\gcd(m, 6) = 1\). Using another approach, the authors also prove a generalization of Hirschhorn's theorem [see Ramanujan J. 5, No. 4, 369--375 (2001; Zbl 0993.30003)] as follows: Theorem 1.2: Suppose \(m\) is divisible by 8 and \(\gcd(m, r) = 1\). Let \(c_ n\) and \(d_ n\) be defined by \(F_ {m,3r,r}= \sum_ {n=0}^ {\infty} c_ n q^ n\) and \(F_ {m,3r-m,r} = \sum_ {n=0}^ {\infty} d_ n q^ n\). Then, for all \(n\geq 0\), we have \[ c_ {8n},c_ {8n+r},c_ {8n+2r}>0,\quad c_ {8n+m-2r},c_ {8n+m-3r}<0, \] \[ d_ {8n},d_ {8n+m-4},d_ {8n+r}>0,\quad d_ {8n+4r-m},d_ {8n+3r-m}<0, \] \[ c_ {8n+m+4r}<0\quad \text{if}\;m>8r,\quad c_ {8n+2m-4r}<0\quad \text{if}\;m<8r, \] \[ d_ {8n+5r-m}<0\quad \text{if}\;3m>8r,\quad d_ {8n+2m-3}<0\quad \text{if}\;3m<8r, \] \[ c_ n=0\quad \text{if}\;n\equiv 3r \pmod 4,\quad d_ n=0\quad \text{if}\;n\equiv 2r\pmod 4. \] In the next section, they prove that the signs of the coefficients of \(F_ {6,3,1}\) are periodic with period~6. This arises as a special case of the following theorem: Theorem 1.3. Suppose \(m\) is even and \(\gcd(m,r)=1\). Let \(c_ n\) and \(d_ n\) be defined by \[ F_ {m,3r,r}=\sum_ {n=0}^ {\infty}c_ n q^ n\quad \text{and}\quad F_ {m,3r-m,r}= \sum_ {n=0}^ {\infty} d_ n q^ n. \] Then, for all \(n\geq m^ 3\), the signs of \(c_ n\) and \(d_ n\) are periodic with period at most \(m\). The bibliography contains 12 items.

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