On a two-color partition series and its companions

Abstract

We study the two-color distinct-part series \(S_1(q)\), equivalently Andrews' generating function \(v_d(q)\) for strictly concave compositions, and its odd and even companions \(T_o(q)\) and \(T_e(q)\). We determine the coefficients of \(S_1(q)\) modulo \(4\) and obtain a complete criterion for the resulting Ramanujan-type progressions. For the even companion, we give a direct overpartition interpretation of its coefficients and show that two natural partition families are each counted by half of those coefficients. For the eta-normalized odd companion \(C(q)=(q;q)_\infty T_o(q)\), we prove a quintic self-similarity, derive exact vanishing relations and infinite sign changes for its coefficients, and show that \(c(n)\) can be nonzero only when \(24n+28\) is represented by \(x^2+3y^2\).