English

A note on $p$-adic valuations of the Schenker sums

Number Theory 2014-01-09 v1

Abstract

A prime number pp is called a Schenker prime if there exists such nN+n\in\mathbb{N}_+ that pnp\nmid n and panp\mid a_n, where an=j=0nn!j!nja_n = \sum_{j=0}^{n}\frac{n!}{j!}n^j is so-called Schenker sum. T. Amdeberhan, D. Callan and V. Moll formulated two conjectures concerning pp-adic valuations of ana_n in case when pp is a Schenker prime. In particular, they asked whether for each kN+k\in\mathbb{N}_+ there exists the unique positive integer nk<pkn_k<p^k such that vp(am5k+nk)kv_p(a_{m\cdot 5^k + n_k})\geq k for each nonnegative integer mm. We prove that for every kN+k\in\mathbb{N}_+ the inequality v5(an)kv_5(a_n)\geq k has exactly one solution modulo 5k5^k. This confirms the first conjecture stated by the mentioned authors. Moreover, we show that if 37n37\nmid n then v37(an)1v_{37}(a_n)\leq 1, what means that the second conjecture stated by the mentioned authors is not true.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1401.1717,
  title  = {A note on $p$-adic valuations of the Schenker sums},
  author = {Piotr Miska},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1401.1717},
  year   = {2014}
}