A CONJECTURE OF MERCA ON CONGRUENCES MODULO POWERS OF 2 FOR PARTITIONS INTO DISTINCT PARTS

Abstract Let $Q(n)$ denote the number of partitions of n into distinct parts. Merca [‘Ramanujan-type congruences modulo 4 for partitions into distinct parts’, An. Şt. Univ. Ovidius Constanţa30(3) (2022), 185–199] derived some congruences modulo $4$ and $8$ for $Q(n)$ and posed a conjecture on congruences modulo powers of $2$ enjoyed by $Q(n)$ . We present an approach which can be used to prove a family of internal congruence relations modulo powers of $2$ concerning $Q(n)$ . As an immediate consequence, we not only prove Merca’s conjecture, but also derive many internal congruences modulo powers of $2$ satisfied by $Q(n)$ . Moreover, we establish an infinite family of congruence relations modulo $4$ for $Q(n)$ .