Some Modular Considerations Regarding Odd Perfect Numbers

Let $p^k m^2$ be an odd perfect number with special prime $p$. In this article, we provide an alternative proof for the biconditional that $\sigma(m^2) \equiv 1 \pmod 4$ holds if and only if $p \equiv k \pmod 8$. We then give an application of this result to the case when $\sigma(m^2)/p^k$ is a square.