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Asymptotics of the d'Arcais Numbers at Small $k$

Number Theory 2026-02-03 v4

Abstract

The d'Arcais numbers are the triangular array {A(2,n,k):n=0,1,,k=0,,n}\{A(2,n,k)\, :\, n=0,1,\dots,\, k=0,\dots,n\}, such that n=0k=0nA(2,n,k)xkzn/n!=((z;z))x\sum_{n=0}^{\infty} \sum_{k=0}^{n} A(2,n,k) x^k z^n/n! = ((z;z)_{\infty})^{-x}. The infinite qq-Pochhammer symbol is (q;q)=n=1(1qn)(q;q)_{\infty} = \prod_{n=1}^{\infty} (1-q^n). Holding kk fixed and considering large nn, we note that the ratio k!A(2,n,k)/n!k! A(2,n,k)/n! is asymptotic to C(k)σ2k1(n)/nkC(k) \sigma_{2k-1}(n)/n^k where the divisor sum function is σp(n)=dndp\sigma_p(n) = \sum_{d|n} d^p and C(k)=(ζ(2))k/(Γ(k)ζ(2k))C(k) = (\zeta(2))^k/(\Gamma(k) \zeta(2k)). This is a slightly generalized version of one of Ramanujan's formulas from his paper, ``On Certain Arithmetical Functions," and it is an immediate consequence of the more recent article of Oliver, Shreshta and Thorne. Heim and Neuhauser made a conjecture, that A(2,n,k)/A(2,n,k1)A(2,n,k)/A(2,n,k-1) is greater than or equal to A(2,n,k+1)/A(2,n,k)A(2,n,k+1)/A(2,n,k), for k=2,3,k=2,3,\dots and all nn. The conjecture is false for k=2k=2, and it is true for k=3,4,k=3,4,\dots when nn is sufficiently large. We consider the Hardy-Ramanujan circle method as a heuristic step.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2601.18599,
  title  = {Asymptotics of the d'Arcais Numbers at Small $k$},
  author = {Shannon Starr},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.18599},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

15 pages, 1 figure