Super congruences and Euler numbers

Let $p>3$ be a prime. We prove that $$\sum_{k=0}^{p-1}\binom{2k}{k}/2^k=(-1)^{(p-1)/2}-p^2E_{p-3} (mod p^3),$$ $$\sum_{k=1}^{(p-1)/2}\binom{2k}{k}/k=(-1)^{(p+1)/2}8/3*pE_{p-3} (mod p^2),$$ $$\sum_{k=0}^{(p-1)/2}\binom{2k}{k}^2/16^k=(-1)^{(p-1)/2}+p^2E_{p-3} (mod p^3)$$, where E_0,E_1,E_2,... are Euler numbers. Our new approach is of combinatorial nature. We also formulate many conjectures concerning super congruences and relate most of them to Euler numbers or Bernoulli numbers. Motivated by our investigation of super congruences, we also raise a conjecture on 7 new series for $\pi^2$, $\pi^{-2}$ and the constant $K:=\sum_{k>0}(k/3)/k^2$ (with (-) the Jacobi symbol), two of which are $$\sum_{k=1}^\infty(10k-3)8^k/(k^3\binom{2k}{k}^2\binom{3k}{k})=\pi^2/2$$ and $$\sum_{k>0}(15k-4)(-27)^{k-1}/(k^3\binom{2k}{k}^2\binom{3k}k)=K.$

The generalized Borwein conjecture. II. Refined q-trinomial coefficients

Transformation formulas for four-parameter refinements of the q-trinomial coefficients are proven. The iterative nature of these transformations allows for the easy derivation of several infinite series of q-trinomial identities, and can be applied to prove many instances of Bressoud's generalized Borwein conjecture.Comment: 36 pages, AMS-LaTe

The Andrews-Gordon identities and qq-multinomial coefficients

We prove polynomial boson-fermion identities for the generating function of the number of partitions of $n$ of the form $n=\sum_{j=1}^{L-1} j f_j$, with $f_1\leq i-1$, $f_{L-1} \leq i'-1$ and $f_j+f_{j+1}\leq k$. The bosonic side of the identities involves $q$-deformations of the coefficients of $x^a$ in the expansion of $(1+x+\cdots+ x^k)^L$. A combinatorial interpretation for these $q$-multinomial coefficients is given using Durfee dissection partitions. The fermionic side of the polynomial identities arises as the partition function of a one-dimensional lattice-gas of fermionic particles. In the limit $L\to\infty$, our identities reproduce the analytic form of Gordon's generalization of the Rogers--Ramanujan identities, as found by Andrews. Using the $q \to 1/q$ duality, identities are obtained for branching functions corresponding to cosets of type $({\rm A}^{(1)}_1)_k \times ({\rm A}^{(1)}_1)_{\ell} / ({\rm A}^{(1)}_1)_{k+\ell}$ of fractional level $\ell$.Comment: 31 pages, Latex, 9 Postscript figure