Congruences modulo 9 and 27 for overpartitions

Abstract

Let \(\bar{p}(n)\) denote the number of overpartitions of n. Fortin et al. and Hirschhorn and Sellers established some congruences modulo powers of 2 for \(\bar{p}(n)\). Recently, Xia and Yao found several congruences modulo powers of 2 and 3. In particular, they proved that \(\bar{p}(96n+12)\equiv 0 \ (\mathrm{mod}\ 9)\) and \(\bar{p}(24n+19)\equiv 0\ (\mathrm{mod\ }27)\). In this paper, we generalize the two congruences and establish several new infinite families of congruences modulo 9 and 27 for \(\bar{p}(n)\). Furthermore, we prove some strange congruences modulo 9 and 27 for \(\bar{p}(n)\) by employing some results due to Cooper et al. For example, we prove that for \(k\ge 0\), \(\bar{p}(4^{k+1})\equiv 2^{k+3}+6(-1)^k\ (\mathrm{mod} \ 27) \) and \(\bar{p}\left( 7^{2k}\right) \equiv 2-2k\ (\mathrm{mod}\ 9)\). We also present two conjectures on congruences for \(\bar{p}(n)\).