Induced character for non-injective homomorphisms - MathOverflow most recent 30 from http://mathoverflow.net2013-05-22T03:19:24Zhttp://mathoverflow.net/feeds/question/89928http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/rdfhttp://mathoverflow.net/questions/89928/induced-character-for-non-injective-homomorphismsInduced character for non-injective homomorphismsMike Shulman2012-03-01T05:43:59Z2012-03-01T08:58:34Z
<p>Any group homomorphism $\phi\colon H\to G$ gives rise to an induction/restriction adjunction between $G$-representations and $H$-representations:
$$ \hom_G(\phi_! M, N) \cong \hom_H(M, \phi^* N) $$
However, it seems that most textbooks and web pages about representation theory inexplicably consider only the case when $\phi$ is injective, i.e. exhibits $H$ as a subgroup of $G$. In this case, there are formulas for the character of $\phi_! M$ in terms of the character of $M$:
$$ \chi_{\phi_!(M)}(g) = \frac{1}{|H|} \sum_{k\in G \atop k^{-1} g k \in H} \chi_M(k^{-1} g k) = \sum_{\text{cosets } k H \atop k^{-1} g k \in H} \chi_M(k^{-1} g k) . $$
Can someone give a reference for versions of these formulas when $\phi$ is not injective?</p>
http://mathoverflow.net/questions/89928/induced-character-for-non-injective-homomorphisms/89932#89932Answer by Evan Jenkins for Induced character for non-injective homomorphismsEvan Jenkins2012-03-01T07:06:16Z2012-03-01T07:06:16Z<p><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=NCfZgr54TJ4C&pg=PA57&lpg=PA57" rel="nofollow">Exercise 7.1 in Serre's <i>Linear Representations of Finite Groups</i></a> gives a formula (without proof) in the case where $\phi$ is surjective. It is probably straightforward to compose this formula with your formula for the injective case to get the general formula.</p>