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8 votes
0 answers
190 views

Groups having exactly two non real-valued irreducible characters

This is an enlarged version of my question on MSE. It was suggested I ask here instead. Suppose the finite group $G$ has exactly two conjugacy classes that are not self-inverse (a conjugacy class is ...
Tom WIlde's user avatar
  • 787
37 votes
0 answers
1k views

Is this generalized character always a character?

Let $G$ be a finite group, and $p$ be a prime. Then there is a generalized character $\Psi$ of $G$ which takes value $0$ on all elements of order divisible by $p$, and has $\Psi(y)$ equal to the ...
Geoff Robinson's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
321 views

Can we relate the character of the permutation representation of $G$ on the cosets $G/\langle g_i\rangle$ to the number of cycles of $g_i$?

Let $G$ be a finite group generated by permutations $g_1,\dots,g_s$ such that $g_1g_2\cdots g_s$ is the identity permutation. The corresponding Hurwitz representation $V_{\text{Hur}}$ has character $$\...
utx7563yu's user avatar
  • 175
17 votes
1 answer
1k views

Explicit character tables of non-existent finite simple groups

In connection with the historical development of the classification of finite simple groups, I am interested in a particular aspect that seems to be less well-documented than the main narrative of ...
Sebastien Palcoux's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
172 views

Abelian characters and odd perfect numbers?

This question is about applications of abelian characters to odd perfect numbers: Context and Definitions: Let $n$ be a natural number and $D_n$ be the set of divisors. We can make this set to a ring ...
mathoverflowUser's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
342 views

Product of all conjugacy classes

Related to this post of my coauthor Sebastien, I should also mention that one can also prove the following dual result: For any finite group G, the following identity holds: $$ \left(\prod_{j=0}^m \...
Sebastian Burciu's user avatar
5 votes
0 answers
351 views

Adjoint identity on finite nilpotent groups

Let $G$ be a finite nilpotent group. Consider the following (adjoint) identity from [BuPa, Theorem 9.6]: $$\left(\prod_{\chi \in \mathrm{Irr}(G)} \frac{\chi}{\chi(1)} \right)^2 =\frac{|Z(G)|}{|G|}\...
Sebastien Palcoux's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
220 views

Characters of alternating groups

I am studying certain properties of characters of alternating groups and I have found precisely three characters not satisfying it up to $A_{15}$. These are: A character of dimension $3.696$ of $A_{...
dm82424's user avatar
  • 370
1 vote
0 answers
179 views

Character extension about $Q_8$

Recently, I am studying the book Navarro - Character Theory and the McKay Conjecture. I am trying to solve the following exercise: (Exercise 5.9) Let $G$ be a finite group and $N\unlhd G$, suppose ...
Shi Chen's user avatar
  • 195
6 votes
0 answers
320 views

(CFSG-free) Finite simple groups whose character degrees square divide its order

Let $G$ be a finite group. It is well-known that for all irreducible complex character $\chi$ then $\deg(\chi)$ divides $\lvert G\rvert$. Motivated by some problems with modular tensor categories, we ...
Sebastien Palcoux's user avatar
12 votes
2 answers
926 views

Finite groups with integral character table

The character table of a finite group will be called integral if all its entries are integers. There are $11$ such groups up to order $16$, namely $C_1$, $C_2$, $C_2^2$, $S_3$, $D_8$, $Q_8$, $C_2^3$, $...
Sebastien Palcoux's user avatar
7 votes
0 answers
139 views

When is $\operatorname{Out}(G)$ isomorphic to the symmetries of the character table of $G$?

$\DeclareMathOperator\Out{Out}\DeclareMathOperator\CTS{CTS}$The outer automorphism group $\Out(G)$ of a finite group $G$ act on the character table by permuting columns (conjugacy classes) and rows (...
Davi Costa's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
98 views

Is there a cohomological interpretation of the bilinear form arising from Clifford theory?

For this question all groups are finite, and representations are over $\mathbb{C}$. The setup is that we have $N$ a normal subgroup of $G$, with abelian quotient $A$, and an irrep $V$ of $N$ that is ...
Chris H's user avatar
  • 1,949
3 votes
0 answers
102 views

Terminology for the "natural probability measure" on the set of irreducible characters of a finite group

To be specific: if $G$ is a finite group and $\operatorname{Irr}(G)$ the set of its irreducible characters (over the complex field) then we know that $$ 1 = \sum_{\phi \in {\rm Irr}(G)} \frac{(d_\phi)^...
Yemon Choi's user avatar
  • 25.8k
21 votes
0 answers
473 views

Is there a "direct" proof of the Galois symmetry on centre of group algebra?

Let $G$ be a finite group, and $n$ an integer coprime to $|G|$. Then we have the following map, which is clearly not a morphism of groups in general: $$g\mapsto g^n.$$ This induces a linear ...
Chris H's user avatar
  • 1,949
2 votes
1 answer
130 views

Existence of universal bound related to characters

Let $G$ be a finite group and $\lambda \in \text{Irr}(G)$ an irreducible complex character of $G$. Let $m(\lambda) := \min \{ \vert G : H \vert \mid H \leq G, \lambda\vert_H \text{ has a linear ...
Jan's user avatar
  • 83
11 votes
1 answer
218 views

A question about the adjoint of the Adams operations on representation rings

Let $G$ be a finite group, and $R(G)$ its representation ring over $\mathbb{C}$. We have the Adams operations $\psi^k:R(G)\rightarrow R(G)$, given on the level of characters by: $$\chi_{\psi^k{V}}(g)=\...
Chris H's user avatar
  • 1,949
3 votes
2 answers
222 views

Equality of subsets of abelian groups

Let $G$ be a finite abelian group, $X$ and $Y$ be two non-empty subsets of $G$ of equal size. Suppose that for each irreducible character $\chi$ of $G$ we have $\sum_{x\in X}\chi(x)=\sum_{y\in Y}\chi(...
user53093's user avatar
  • 105
4 votes
0 answers
227 views

Orbits of group representation over $\mathbb{F}_2$

Recently I have been considering a problem that has had me venture into some mathematical territory that is new to me, specifically group representations, words, and character theory. I would ...
healynr's user avatar
  • 161
0 votes
0 answers
53 views

Counting the number of generating triples of various types in finite simple groups

I am trying to figure out how specific generating triples in finite simple groups are calculated. My understanding is that it uses Frobenius's formula and character theory. I'm not an expert on ...
Kris's user avatar
  • 29
20 votes
2 answers
948 views

The finite groups with a zero entry in each column of its character table (except the first one)

$\DeclareMathOperator\PSL{PSL}\DeclareMathOperator\Aut{Aut}$Consider the class of finite groups $G$ having a zero entry in each column of its character table (except the first one), i.e. for all $g \...
Sebastien Palcoux's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
124 views

Action of diagonal automorphisms on the set of irreducible characters of $D_n(q)$

Let $S$ be $D_n(q)$ where $q$ is a prime power. We know that a diagonal automorphism $\phi_h$ of $S$ is of the form $g\mapsto hgh^{-1}$, where $h\in \hat H$ and $\hat H$ normalizes $S$. Note that $\...
user44312's user avatar
  • 613
17 votes
2 answers
860 views

The sum (with multiplicity) of the cubes of irreducible character degrees of a finite group

Throughout $G$ is a finite, non-abelian group. $\DeclareMathOperator\Irr{Irr}\DeclareMathOperator\AD{AD}\DeclareMathOperator\cp{cp}\newcommand\card[1]{\lvert#1\rvert}$ Let $\Irr(G)$ be the set of ...
Yemon Choi's user avatar
  • 25.8k
7 votes
2 answers
764 views

Proofs of a character identity?

Let $G$ be a finite group, $g \geq 0, k\geq 1 $ integers, and $(C_1,...,C_k)$ a tuple of conjugacy classes of $G$. I am interested in proofs of the following identity $$ \sum_{(c_1,...,c_k) \in C_1 \...
user101010's user avatar
  • 5,349
9 votes
2 answers
525 views

Characterization of the family of simple groups PSL(2,q) by tensor multiplicity

Let $G$ be a finite group and $(\chi_i)$ its irreducible characters. Then $\forall i,j,k, \exists!n_{i,j}^k \in \mathbb{N}_{\ge 0}$ such that $$\chi_i \chi_j = \sum_k n_{i,j}^k \chi_k.$$ Let the ...
Sebastien Palcoux's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
196 views

Generalization of $\lim_{n \rightarrow \infty} \prod_{i=1}^{n}\frac{2i-1}{2i}$ for a character $\chi:\mathbb{Z}/s \mathbb{Z} \rightarrow \mathbb{C}^*$

Playing with some infinite products I came up with this problem, that I'm not able to figure it out by myself. Moreover in the internet it doesn't seem to appear anywhere. Maybe it is just an easy ...
gigi's user avatar
  • 1,343
4 votes
1 answer
423 views

A global code for the character table of PSL(2,q)

We can easily get the character table of $\mathrm{PSL}(2,q)$ for some fixed small prime power $q$, we can just do (for example): ...
Sebastien Palcoux's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
411 views

Are the character degrees determined by the conjugacy class sizes?

The computation below (part 1) shows that if two finite groups of order at most $100$ have the same (ordered) list of conjugacy class sizes, then they also have the same (ordered) list of (irreducible)...
Sebastien Palcoux's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
153 views

Characters, centralizers and cosets

I am trying to understand/count the number of solutions of a number of equations in finite groups and came across the following class function: $$ \theta_\chi(x) = \sum_{y\in G} |C_G(xy)y \cap C_G(x)| ...
Enrique Torres's user avatar
7 votes
3 answers
990 views

The zero entries in the character table of a finite group

When you browse the character tables of the small finite groups (for example here), you can observe that every zero entry corresponds to the value of an irreducible character $\chi$ on a non-central ...
Sebastien Palcoux's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
400 views

Character table of the symmetric group $S_n$ according to James

In James, "The representation theory of the symmetric groups" an algorithm is described to produce the character table of a symmetric group. The proof involves the equation (pp. 22,23) $$\...
Stefan Witzel's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
112 views

Restriction of real irreducible 2-Brauer characters to subnormal subgroups

Question: Find a finite group $G$, a subnormal subgroup $H$ of $G$, a real-valued irreducible $2$-Brauer character $\chi$ of $G$ and a real-valued irreducible $2$-Brauer character $\mu$ of $H$ such ...
John Murray's user avatar
  • 1,090
4 votes
1 answer
287 views

Character values of principal series representations of $GL_n(\mathbb{F}_q)$

Let $P_{\alpha}$ be the principal series representation of $GL_n(\mathbb{F}_q)$, where $\alpha = ( \alpha_1, \alpha_2, \cdots, \alpha_n)$ and $\alpha_i : \mathbb{F}_q^* \rightarrow \mathbb{C}^*$. ...
Sagars's user avatar
  • 73
0 votes
0 answers
112 views

Definition of "tame $p$-part of $\chi$"

At the beginning of Haruzo Hida's article "Big Galois representations and $p$-adic L functions", he has defined $$\chi_1= \textrm{the } N_0 \textrm{-part of} \chi \times \textrm{the tame } p\textrm{-...
tanjia's user avatar
  • 337
11 votes
1 answer
550 views

Probability of words summing to $1$ in $S_n$ or $\mathrm{PGL}_2(n)$

$\DeclareMathOperator\PGL{PGL}\DeclareMathOperator\Conj{Conj}$Let $G$ be the symmetric group $S_n$ or the projective general linear group $\PGL_2(n)$. Let $X$ be a cyclically reduced word in the ...
LeechLattice's user avatar
  • 9,501
3 votes
0 answers
75 views

Expressing $\sum_{g\in [G/H]}ge_Hg^{-1}\in Z(\mathbb{C}[G])$ in terms of primitive central idempotents?

Suppose $G$ is a finite group, and $H$ a subgroup. For an irreducible character $\chi$ of $G$, there is a central idempotent in the group algebra $\mathbb{C}[G]$: $$ e_\chi=\frac{\chi(1)}{|G|}\sum_{g\...
Denise Gi's user avatar
  • 131
6 votes
1 answer
298 views

Is a finite group given by its character table if its Sylow subgroups are so?

As pointed out by Mikko Korhonen in this answer, Özdem Çelik proved (in 1976 here) that a finite group whose Sylow subgroups are cyclic (called a Z-group) is determined by its character table. ...
Sebastien Palcoux's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
518 views

Finite groups with the same character table *including* class types, and square-free order

There are non-isomorphic finite groups with the same (complex) character table, as $D_4$ and $Q_8$. $$\scriptsize\begin{array}{c|c} \text{class}&1&2A&2B&2C&4 \newline \text{...
Sebastien Palcoux's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
322 views

Why is Nagao's theorem the "Module theoretic version of Brauer's second main theorem"?

Let $G$ be a finite group, $p\in\mathbb{P}$ a prime, $\mathbb{F}$ an algebraically closed field of characteristic $p$, and $D\leq G$ a $p$-subgroup. Brauer second main theorem states If $\chi\in ...
Johannes Hahn's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
1k views

Conditions for a solvable group to have a non-trivial center

I am working on a problem in character theory where I try to bound the derived length of a solvable group using information about its characters. In my specific case, it will be extremely helpful for ...
Joakim Færgeman's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
276 views

Reference request: an elementary result on characters of finite abelian groups

The referee of a paper I submitted to a journal asked me to include a reference of the following elementary result on characters of finite abelian groups: Let $A$ be a finite abelian group of order $...
efs's user avatar
  • 3,107
5 votes
2 answers
348 views

$G\cong C_4\times A_5$ or $C_2\times C_2\times A_5$?

Let $G$ be a finite group of order $240$. If $G\cong C_4\times A_5$ or $C_2\times C_2\times A_5$, then the all degrees of irreducible $\mathbb{C}$-characters of $G$ are $ [1,1,1,1,~3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3, ~...
C. Simon's user avatar
  • 577
0 votes
1 answer
212 views

Is $G$ non-solvable?

Let $G$ be a finite group of order $2^7\cdot3^3\cdot5^2\cdot7$. Let $\mathrm{Irr}(G)$ be the set of all the irreducible $\mathbb{C}$-characters. Suppose that (1) there is a character $\chi\in\mathrm{...
C. Simon's user avatar
  • 577
7 votes
1 answer
197 views

A class function defined using Frobenius-Schur indicators

Let ${\rm Irr}(G)$ be the set of complex irreducible characters of a finite group $G$. The Frobenius-Schur indicator of $\chi\in{\rm Irr}(G)$ is defined to be $\epsilon(\chi):=\frac{1}{|G|}\sum_{g\in ...
John Murray's user avatar
  • 1,090
1 vote
0 answers
103 views

Character degrees of a finite group?

Let $G$ be a finite group, $R(G)$ be the solvable radical of $G$, and $G/R(G)$ be an almost simple group with socle $S\cong PSL_2(3^p)$, where $p$ is an odd prime. Also let $[G/R(G):S]=p$ and $\theta$ ...
asad's user avatar
  • 841
3 votes
0 answers
130 views

Does $G$ have a normal abelian Sylow $2$-subgroup?

Let $G$ be a finite group. Let $|G|=2^\alpha n$ where $(2,n)=1$ and $\alpha$ is a positive integer. Suppose that $\def\cd{\operatorname{cd}} n=\max \cd(G)$, and $n^2>\frac{1}{2}|G|$, where $\cd(G)$...
C. Simon's user avatar
  • 577
7 votes
1 answer
647 views

On the structure of a finite group of order $144$

Let $G$ be a finite group of order $144$. Suppose there is an irreducible $\mathbb{C}$-character $\theta$ such that $\theta(1)=9$. QUESTION: Prove $G\cong A_4\times A_4$. By using Magma, we know ...
C. Simon's user avatar
  • 577
8 votes
1 answer
392 views

Is a $G$-invariant character $\theta$ of $H$ extendible to $G$?

Let $G/H\cong PSL(2,11)$, and $\theta$ be an irreducible $\mathbb{C}$-character of $H$. Suppose $\theta$ is invariant in $G$ and $\theta(1)=9$. Question: Is $\theta$ extendible to $G$?
C. Simon's user avatar
  • 577
1 vote
0 answers
76 views

The degrees of ordinary characters of $PSp(2n,q)$ and $P\Omega O(2n+1,q)$

The finite simple groups $PSp(2n,q)$ and $P\Omega O(2n+1,q)$ have a same order, where $n\geqslant3$ and $q$ is odd. What are the degrees of the ordinary characters of these two groups? Thanks!!!
C. Simon's user avatar
  • 577
20 votes
3 answers
940 views

What did Frobenius prove about $M_{12}$?

I am interested in this paper which I can't read because it's in German: Frobenius, G., Über die Charaktere der mehrfach transitiven Gruppen., Berl. Ber. 1904, 558-571 (1904). ZBL35.0154.02. A free ...
Nick Gill's user avatar
  • 11.2k