Algebraic geometric framework of Rogers--Ramanujan identities

Abstract

The Rogers--Ramanujan identities equate a $q$-series whose exponents are governed by a quadratic form with an infinite product supported on two residue classes modulo~$5$. Identities of this shape are scarce, and a central problem is to identify the structures that produce them in families. Huang, Jiang, and Oblomkov have proposed a source of a new kind: to each pair of coprime integers $a,b>1$ they attach an infinite-rank $q$-series $Z_{a,b}(q)$, assembled from counts of commuting nilpotent matrix pairs $(A,B)$ with $A^a=B^b$ over finite fields, and they conjecture that it equals an explicit product of $(a-1)(b-1)/2$ modular units of level $a+b$. The $a=2$ cases are the Andrews--Gordon identities; no case with $a>2$ was known. We prove the conjecture for $(a,b)=(3,4)$, $(3,5)$, $(3,7)$, and $(3,8)$. Our proofs pass through a finer sum-to-sum identity, which we conjecture for all $b$ coprime to $3$ and establish for all $b$ when $q=1$. Lau and Ono have since proved that identity in general, and with it the full $a=3$ case. These identities have been formalized and verified in Lean by AxiomProver.