False and partial Eisenstein-type series related to unimodal sequences

Abstract Motivated by the fact that the classical Jacobi theta function ϑ is the exponential generating function of the Eisenstein series, we study the exponential Taylor coefficients (in the elliptic variable) of a related natural partial theta function, as well as a false theta function corresponding to the Dedekind eta function. We prove that the space spanned by these objects is closed under differentiation, analogous to the space of quasimodular forms, and that it contains the quasimodular forms themselves. We further provide their Fourier expansions, establish quasimodular completions, and derive a recursive formula for the Taylor coefficients of the logarithm of the unimodal rank generating function, expressed as partition traces of the false and partial objects.