Congruence Properties Modulo Powers of 2 for 4-Regular Partitions

Let b_ (n) denote the number of -regular partitions of n. Congruences properties modulo powers of 2 for b₄ (n) were considered subsequently by Andrews-Hirschhorn-Sellers, Chen, Cui-Gu, Xia, Dai, and Ballantine-Merca. In this paper, we present an approach which can be utilized to prove the ``self-similar'' congruence property satisfied by the generating function of b₄ (n). As an immediate consequence, one can obtain dozens of congruence families modulo powers of 2 enjoyed by b₄ (n). These results not only generalize some previous results, but also can be viewed as a supplement to Keith and Zanello's comprehensive study of the congruence properties for -regular partition functions. Finally, we also pose several conjectures on congruence families, internal congruence families and self-similar congruence properties for 4-, 8- and 16-regular partition functions.