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Infinite families of congruences for the second order mock theta function $\mathcal{B}(q)$

Number Theory 2025-09-26 v1

Abstract

The arithmetic properties of the second order mock theta function B(q)\mathcal{B}(q), introduced by McIntosh, defined by \begin{equation*} \mathcal{B}(q) := \sum_{n \geq 0} \frac{q^n (-q;q^2)_n}{(q;q^2)_{n+1}} = \sum_{n \geq 0}b(n)q^n, \end{equation*} have been extensively studied. For instance, for all n0n\ge0, Kaur and Rana established congruences such as for all n0n\ge0, \begin{align*} b(12n+10) &\equiv 0 \pmod{36}, \quad b(18n+16) \equiv 0 \pmod{72}, \end{align*} Chen and Mao proved that for all n0n\ge0, \begin{align*} b(4n+1) &\equiv 0 \pmod{2}, \quad b(4n+2) \equiv 0 \pmod{4}, \end{align*} while Mao also showed that for all n0n\ge0, \begin{align*} b(6n+2) &\equiv 0 \pmod{4}, \quad b(6n+4) \equiv 0 \pmod{9}. \end{align*} In this paper, we find new congruences and infinite families of congruences modulo 2,4,8,36,54,722, 4, 8, 36, 54, 72 for the function B(q)\mathcal{B}(q). For example, let p5p \geq 5 be a prime, if (3p)L=1\left(\frac{-3}{p}\right)_L = -1, then for all n,k0n, k \geq 0 with pnp \nmid n, we have \begin{equation*} b\left( 3p^{2k+1}n + \frac{p^{2k+2}-1}{2} \right) \equiv 0 \pmod{2}. \end{equation*} Let p5p \geq 5 be a prime and 1p11 \leq \ell \leq p - 1 such that (12+9p)L=1\left( \frac{12\ell + 9}{p} \right)_L = -1. Then for all n,k0n, k \geq 0, we have \begin{equation*} b\left(6p^{2k+3}n + \frac{3p^{2k+2}(4\ell+3)-1}{2}\right) \equiv 0 \pmod{36}. \end{equation*} Our techniques involve elementary qq-series and Maple.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2509.20708,
  title  = {Infinite families of congruences for the second order mock theta function $\mathcal{B}(q)$},
  author = {Hemjyoti Nath and Hirakjyoti Das},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2509.20708},
  year   = {2025}
}