Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 March 2013
Let $p$ be a prime. In this paper, we present a detailed
$p$-adic analysis on factorials and double factorials and their congruences. We give good bounds for the
$p$-adic sizes of the coefficients of the divided universal Bernoulli number
${B}_{n} / n$ when
$n$ is divisible by
$p- 1$. Using these, we then establish the universal Kummer congruences modulo powers of a prime
$p$ for the divided universal Bernoulli numbers
${B}_{n} / n$ when
$n$ is divisible by
$p- 1$.