Linear recurrences and rational Lambert series

Abstract

For a sequence $\gamma=(\gamma_n)_{n\ge 1}$, define \[ L_\gamma(z):=\sum_{n\ge 1}\gamma_n\frac{z^n}{1-z^n} =\sum_{n\ge 1}\Bigl(\sum_{d\mid n}\gamma_d\Bigr)z^n. \] We prove a short rigidity theorem: if $\gamma$ is eventually linearly recurrent and $L_\gamma(z)$ is rational, then $\gamma$ is finitely supported. Equivalently, among sequences with rational ordinary generating function, the only ones whose Lambert series is rational are the finitely supported sequences. The proof specializes the data at a finite place of a finitely generated ring and then uses the periodicity of recurrences over finite fields.