English

Ljunggren--Jacobsthal and Bailey-Type Congruences for Rectangular Gaussian Binomial Coefficients

Number Theory 2026-07-31 v1

Abstract

Motivated by the polynomial form of Kalinin's Gaussian analogue of Wolstenholme's theorem, following Kalinin, we study a two-dimensional factorial ratio over the Gaussian integers, which we call the rectangular Gaussian binomial coefficient. For a rational prime p3(mod4)p\equiv 3\pmod 4, we first prove that these coefficients are pp-integral. Our main result is a Ljunggren--Jacobsthal-type supercongruence: for p>5p>5 and every k1k\geq 1, simultaneous dilation of all four parameters by pkp^k changes the coefficient by a multiple of p3kp^{3k}. In particular, this proves the inert-prime case of a conjecture of Kalinin. We also establish a rectangular Bailey-type congruence modulo pp for parameters consisting of a large pp-multiple and one base-pp digit. Its shape parallels Bailey's prime-power refinements of Lucas's theorem, but two additional ordinary binomial factors occur, reflecting the vertical and horizontal boundary strips of a rectangular block decomposition. The proofs combine reciprocal-power-sum estimates in Zp[i]\mathbb{Z}_p[i] with factorizations of rectangular products into complete pk×pkp^k\times p^k blocks.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2608.00347,
  title  = {Ljunggren--Jacobsthal and Bailey-Type Congruences for Rectangular Gaussian Binomial Coefficients},
  author = {Kevin Calderon},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2608.00347},
  year   = {2026}
}