Proof of a conjecture of Baruah and Sarma on sign patterns of certain infinite products

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: He, Bing, Zhang, Xiongze
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author He, Bing
Zhang, Xiongze
author_facet He, Bing
Zhang, Xiongze
contents Let \[ \sum_{n=0}^{\infty}A(n)q^{n} := \frac{(q^{2};q^{5})_{\infty}^{5}(q^{3};q^{5})_{\infty}^{5}}{(q;q^{5})_{\infty}^{5}(q^{4};q^{5})_{\infty}^{5}}, \] \[ \sum_{n=0}^{\infty} B(n)q^{n} := \frac{(q;q^{5})_{\infty}^{5} (q^{4};q^{5})_{\infty}^{5}} {(q^{2};q^{5})_{\infty}^{5}(q^{3}; q^{5})_{\infty}^{5}}, \] and \[ \sum_{n=0}^{\infty} D(n)q^{n} := \frac{(q^{5};q^{25})_{\infty}(q^{20}; q^{25})_{\infty}} {(q^{10};q^{25})_{\infty}(q^{15}; q^{25})_{\infty}} \frac{(q^{2}; q^{5})_{\infty}^{5}(q^{3};q^{5})_{\infty}^{5}} {(q;q^{5})_{\infty}^{5} (q^{4};q^{5})_{\infty}^{5}} \] where $(a;q)_{\infty} := \prod_{k=0}^{\infty}(1-aq^{k})$ and $|q|<1.$ These sequences are closely related to the celebrated Rogers-Ramanujan continued fraction. In this paper, we study the sign behavior o of the coefficients $A(n),B(n)$ and $D(n).$ We prove that for all integers $n\geq0,$ \begin{align*} A(5n)<0\quad(n\neq0),\qquad B(5n) < 0\quad(n\neq0),\qquad D(5n+1)>0. \end{align*} This confirms a recent conjecture of Baruah and Sarma. Our proof is different from the previous method of Baruah and Sarma, and combines asymptotic coefficient analysis with symbolic computation for finite case verification.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_17195
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Proof of a conjecture of Baruah and Sarma on sign patterns of certain infinite products
He, Bing
Zhang, Xiongze
Number Theory
Combinatorics
Let \[ \sum_{n=0}^{\infty}A(n)q^{n} := \frac{(q^{2};q^{5})_{\infty}^{5}(q^{3};q^{5})_{\infty}^{5}}{(q;q^{5})_{\infty}^{5}(q^{4};q^{5})_{\infty}^{5}}, \] \[ \sum_{n=0}^{\infty} B(n)q^{n} := \frac{(q;q^{5})_{\infty}^{5} (q^{4};q^{5})_{\infty}^{5}} {(q^{2};q^{5})_{\infty}^{5}(q^{3}; q^{5})_{\infty}^{5}}, \] and \[ \sum_{n=0}^{\infty} D(n)q^{n} := \frac{(q^{5};q^{25})_{\infty}(q^{20}; q^{25})_{\infty}} {(q^{10};q^{25})_{\infty}(q^{15}; q^{25})_{\infty}} \frac{(q^{2}; q^{5})_{\infty}^{5}(q^{3};q^{5})_{\infty}^{5}} {(q;q^{5})_{\infty}^{5} (q^{4};q^{5})_{\infty}^{5}} \] where $(a;q)_{\infty} := \prod_{k=0}^{\infty}(1-aq^{k})$ and $|q|<1.$ These sequences are closely related to the celebrated Rogers-Ramanujan continued fraction. In this paper, we study the sign behavior o of the coefficients $A(n),B(n)$ and $D(n).$ We prove that for all integers $n\geq0,$ \begin{align*} A(5n)<0\quad(n\neq0),\qquad B(5n) < 0\quad(n\neq0),\qquad D(5n+1)>0. \end{align*} This confirms a recent conjecture of Baruah and Sarma. Our proof is different from the previous method of Baruah and Sarma, and combines asymptotic coefficient analysis with symbolic computation for finite case verification.
title Proof of a conjecture of Baruah and Sarma on sign patterns of certain infinite products
topic Number Theory
Combinatorics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.17195