[Math] Ramanujan’s tau function, $691$ congruence, and $\eta(z)^{12}$

congruencesmodular-formsnt.number-theory

Let $q = e^{2\pi i\,z}$.

I. 24th power

The Ramanujan tau function $\tau(n)$ is given by the expansion of the Dedekind eta function $\eta(z)$'s $\text{24th}$ power. Then

$$\begin{aligned}\eta(z)^{24} &= \sum_{n=1}^\infty\tau(n)q^n\\&=q – 24q^2 + 252q^3 – 1472q^4 + 4830q^5 – 6048q^6 – 16744q^7 + \dots\end{aligned}$$

Ramanujan observed that

$$\tau(n)\equiv\sigma_{11}(n)\ \bmod\ 691\tag1$$

II. 12th power

Assume the rho function $\rho(n)$ as,

$$\begin{aligned}\eta(2z)^{12} &= \sum_{n=1}^\infty\rho(n)q^n\\&=q – 12q^3 + 54q^5 – 88q^7 -99q^9 +540q^{11} – 418q^{13} -648q^{15} + \dots\end{aligned}$$

Note the odd powers. Is it true that

$$\rho(n)\equiv\sigma_{5}(n)\ \bmod\ 2^8\tag2$$

analogous to $(1)$?

P.S. It's true for the first 10000 coefficients in OEIS A000735.

Best Answer

Yes, this is true, as a consequence of an identity in a space of modular forms of weight $6$.

The form $\eta(2z)^{12}$ is in this space; and $\sigma_5(n)$ for $n$ odd are the coefficients of the weight-$6$ form $$ \frac1{1008} \Bigl(E_6(z+\frac12) - E_6(z)\Bigr) = q + 244 q^3 + 3126 q^5 + 16808 q^7 + 59293 q^9 + \cdots. $$ The difference is $$ 256(q^3 + 12 q^5 + 66 q^7 + 232 q^9 + 627 q^{11} + 1452 q^{13} + \cdots); $$ after a bit of experimentation we recognize this as $256q^3$ times the $12$-th power of $1+q^2+q^6+q^{12}+q^{20}+\cdots$, which is to say $256$ times the $12$-th power of the weight-$1/2$ modular form $\sum_{k=0}^\infty q^{(2k+1)^2/4}$. Such a formula, once surmised, can be proved by comparing initial segments of the $q$-expansions; I did this to $O(q^{61})$, which is way more than enough. The congruence mod $256$ follows because the $12$-th power of $1+q^2+q^6+q^{12}+q^{20}+\cdots$ clearly has integral coefficients.

Added later: This identity (and thus the congruence that Tito Piezas III asked for) gives a formula $(\sigma_5(n) - \rho(n)) / 256$ for the number of representations of $4n$ as the sum of $12$ odd squares, or equivalently of $(n-3)/2$ as the sum of $12$ triangular numbers. Following this lead, I soon found both the formula and the congruence in the paper

Ken Ono, Sinai Robins, and Patrick T. Wahl: On the representation of integers as sums of triangular numbers, Aequationes Math. 50 (1995) #1, 73-94

available on Ken Ono's page, where the enumeration is given (in the triangular-number form) as Theorem 7, and the congruence as a "simple consequence" of that theorem.