2-Adic valuations of Stirling numbers of the first kind

Abstract

Let [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] be positive integers. We denote by [Formula: see text] the 2-adic valuation of [Formula: see text]. The Stirling numbers of the first kind, denoted by [Formula: see text], count the number of permutations of [Formula: see text] elements with [Formula: see text] disjoint cycles. In recent years, Lengyel, Komatsu and Young, Leonetti and Sanna, and Adelberg made some progress on the study of the [Formula: see text]-adic valuations of [Formula: see text]. In this paper, by introducing the concept of [Formula: see text]th Stirling numbers of the first kind and providing a detailed 2-adic analysis, we show an explicit formula on the 2-adic valuation of [Formula: see text]. We also prove that [Formula: see text] holds for all integers [Formula: see text] between 1 and [Formula: see text]. As a corollary, we show that [Formula: see text] if [Formula: see text] is odd and [Formula: see text]. This confirms partially a conjecture of Lengyel raised in 2015. Furthermore, we show that if [Formula: see text], then [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text], where [Formula: see text] stands for the [Formula: see text]th elementary symmetric functions of [Formula: see text]. The latter one supports the conjecture of Leonetti and Sanna suggested in 2017.