Questions tagged [rt.representation-theory]
Linear representations of algebras and groups, Lie theory, associative algebras, multilinear algebra.
2,545 questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
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Class function counting solutions of equation in finite group: when is it a virtual character?
Let $w=w(x_1,\dots,x_n)$ be a word in a free group of rank $n$. Let $G$ be a finite group. Then we may define a class function $f=f_w$ of $G$ by
$$ f_w(g) = |\{ (x_1,\dots, x_n)\in G^n\mid w(x_1,\dots,...
43
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Why are there so few quaternionic representations of simple groups?
Having spent many hours looking through the Atlas of Finite Simple Groups while in Grad school, I recall being rather intrigued by the fact that among the sporadic groups, only one (McLaughlin as I ...
38
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Groups whose complex irreducible representations are finite dimensional
By a complex irreducible representation of a group $G$, I mean a simple $\mathbb CG$-module. So my representations need not be unitary and we are working in the purely algebraic setting.
It is easy ...
37
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Is this generalized character always a character?
Let $G$ be a finite group, and $p$ be a prime. Then there is a generalized character $\Psi$ of $G$ which takes value $0$ on all elements of order divisible by $p$, and has $\Psi(y)$ equal to the ...
37
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Chern character of a Representation
Let $G$ be a finite group. Under the identification of the representation ring $R_{\mathbb{C}}(G)$ with the equivariant K-theory $KU^0_G(\ast)$ of the point, followed by Atiyah-Segal completion-...
31
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Is this representation of Go (game) irreducible?
This post is freely inspired by the basic rules of Go (game), usually played on a $19 \times 19$ grid graph.
Consider the $\mathbb{Z}^2$ grid. We can assign to each vertex a state "black" ($b$), "...
29
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Linking formulas by Euler, Pólya, Nekrasov-Okounkov
Consider the formal product
$$F(t,x,z):=\prod_{j=0}^{\infty}(1-tx^j)^{z-1}.$$
(a) If $z=2$ then on the one hand we get Euler's
$$F(t,x,2)=\sum_{n\geq0}\frac{(-1)^nx^{\binom{n}2}}{(x;x)_n}t^n,$$
on the ...
24
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813
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Revising the proof of CFSG
This is an oft-quoted excerpt from John Thompson's article "Finite Non-Solvable Groups":
“... the classification of finite simple groups is an exercise in taxonomy. This is
obvious to the ...
24
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730
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What is the status of a result of Kontsevich and Rosenberg?
In their influential paper Noncommutative Smooth Spaces (https://arxiv.org/abs/math/9812158), Kontsevich and Rosenberg define the notion of a noncommutative projective space. In Section 3.3 they ...
23
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When does a representation admit a spin structure?
Let $G$ be a finite group, and let $V$ be an $n$-dimensional real representation of $G$. Think of $V$ as given by a homomorphism
$$ \rho_V\colon G\to O(n).$$
Write $\chi_V$ for the character of $V$.
...
22
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What are the indecomposable $U_q\mathfrak{sl}(2)$-modules?
Let $\mathfrak g=\mathfrak{sl}(2)$.
Let $\zeta$ be a primitive root of unity of even order. Say $\zeta=e^{2\pi i/6}$, for concreteness.
Let $U_q\mathfrak g$ be Lusztig's integral form of the ...
22
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Combinatorics of Quantum Schubert Polynomials
Let $S_n$ be the symmetric group. Let $s_i$ denote the adjacent transposition $(i \ i+1)$. For any permutation $w\in S_n$, an expression $w=s_{i_1}s_{i_2}\cdots s_{i_p}$ of minimal possible length is ...
21
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Is there a "direct" proof of the Galois symmetry on centre of group algebra?
Let $G$ be a finite group, and $n$ an integer coprime to $|G|$. Then we have the following map, which is clearly not a morphism of groups in general: $$g\mapsto g^n.$$
This induces a linear ...
21
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Cauchy matrices with elementary symmetric polynomials
$\newcommand{\vx}{\mathbf{x}}$
Let $e_k(\vx)$ denote the elementary symmetric polynomial, defined for $k=0,1,\ldots,n$ over a vector $\vx=(x_1,\ldots,x_n)$ by
\begin{equation*}
e_k(\vx) := \sum_{1 \...
20
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Row of the character table of symmetric group with most negative entries
The row of the character table of $S_n$ corresponding to the trivial representation has all entries positive, and by orthogonality clearly it is the only one like this.
Is it true that for $n\gg 0$, ...
20
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597
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Your favourite alternative proof of Borel–Weil–Bott
There is a really nice proof of Borel–Weil–Bott, essentially using parabolic induction (see Proof of Borel-Weil-Bott Theorem, Lurie - A proof of the Borel–Weil–Bott theorem or Demazure - A very simple ...
20
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Which classes in $\mathrm{H}^4(B\mathrm{Exceptional}; \mathbb{Z})$ are classical characteristic classes?
Let $G$ be a compact connected Lie group. Recall that $\mathrm{H}^4(\mathrm{B}G;\mathbb{Z})$ is then a free abelian group of finite rank. Let us say that a class $c \in \mathrm{H}^4(\mathrm{B}G;\...
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Should the Dynkin diagrams of types $A_1$ and $B_2$ be labelled $C_1$ and $C_2$?
The labels $A$--$G$ attached to connected Dynkin diagrams are of course arbitrary,
the result of historical accidents. In order to avoid repetitions, the four infinite
families $A_\ell, B_\ell, C_\...
19
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642
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Large values of characters of the symmetric group
For $g$ an element of a group and $\chi$ an irreducible character, there are two easy bounds for the character value $\chi(g)$: First, the bound $|\chi(g)|\leq \chi(1)$ by the dimension of the ...
19
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Is there a classification of reflection groups over division rings?
I asked a version of this question in Math StackExchange about a week ago but I've received no feedback so far, so following the advice I received on meta I decided to post it here.
Details
The ...
18
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Can Rep(G) tell us whether G is discrete?
Given a locally compact group $G$, let $$\mathrm{Rep}(G)$$ be its category of unitary representations.
The objects of that category are strongly continuous unitary representations of $G$ on Hilbert ...
18
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Who first noticed the duality for finite groups?
A.A.Kirillov in section 12.3 of his "Elements of the Theory of Representations" writes that the first "symmetric" duality theory for non-commutative groups was the theory for finite groups. In short ...
18
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532
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A cohomology class associated with a complex representation of a group
$\newcommand\CC{\mathbb C}\newcommand\ZZ{\mathbb Z}\newcommand\ad{\mathsf{ad}}\newcommand\Ext{\operatorname{Ext}}$ Suppose that $G$ is a finite group and that it acts on a finite dimensional complex ...
18
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469
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Quasi-classical limit of representation theory
I am looking for a good reference on a general phenomenon of quasi-classical limit in representation theory, which relates "large" representations to measures on (co-adjoint orbits of) the associated ...
18
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524
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Applications of the surjectivity of Brauer's decomposition map over arbitrary fields?
Recently I've been going over some of Serre's reformulation of Brauer theory with a student, following the influential treatment in Part III of Serre's lectures (revised 1971 French edition) later ...
18
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895
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local equivalence of loop group representations
Let $G$ be a compact, simple, connected, simply connected (cscsc) Lie group, and let its smooth loop group $LG:=C^\infty(S^1,G)$. Given an interval $I\subset S^1$, we have the local loop group
$$
L_IG ...
17
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Number of $F_p$-matrices ac=ca, bd = db , ad - da = cb - bc is polynomial in p ? ("Manin matrix variety" - normal ? Cohen–Macaulay ? )
Consider four $n\times n$ matrices $a,b,c,d$ over finite field $F_q$ (or $F_p$ for simplicity), such that they satisfy three equations: $ac=ca,bd=db, ad-da=cb-bc $. Thus an affine algebraic manifold ...
17
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Symmetries of local systems on the punctured sphere
Let $X=S^2\setminus D$, for $D\subset S^2$ some finite set of points, say with $|D|=n\geq 1$. The category of locally constant sheaves of $\mathbb{C}$-vector spaces on $X$ (equivalently, complex ...
17
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704
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When is the determinant an $8$-th power?
I am working over $\mathbb{R}$ (though most of the story goes over any field). I am looking for linear spaces of matrices such that the restriction of the determinant to this spaces can be written (...
17
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692
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Monstrous Langlands-McKay or what is bijection between conjugacy classes and irreducible representation for sporadic simple groups?
Context: The number of conjugacy classes equals to the number of irreducuble representations (over C) for any finite group. Moreover for the symmetric group and some other groups there is "good ...
17
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975
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What to do with results you found but cannot prove(outside your research area)?
Not sure if MathOverflow is still a place to discuss such things, but I'll give it a try. Tell me an alternative site, in case it is wrong here. I translated a representation-theory/combinatorial ...
17
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547
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Does a symplectic group act on a tensor power of a spin representation?
$\DeclareMathOperator\Spin{Spin}\DeclareMathOperator\Sp{Sp}$More specifically, let $S_k$ be the spin representation of $\Spin(2k+1)$.
Then is there are action of $\Sp(2r-2)$ on $\bigotimes^{2r}S_k$ ...
17
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Combinatorial identity involving the Coxeter numbers of root systems
The setup is:
$R$ = irreducible (reduced) root system;
$D$ = connected Dynkin diagram of $R$, with nodes numbered $1,2,...,r$;
$\hat D$ = extended Dynkin diagram, nodes numbered $0,1,2,...,r$;
$\...
16
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Representation theory of Pin groups
I am (still) thinking about branching rules from $\mathfrak{so}(n+m)$ to $\mathfrak{so}(n) \oplus \mathfrak{so}(m)$, using Proctor's paper as the starting point.
Proctor describes this rule for $m = 2$...
16
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557
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Identity involving Schur polynomials, binomial coefficients and contents of partition
Let $C_{\lambda,\mu}$ be the coefficients defined as
$$ s_\lambda\left(\frac{x_1}{1-x_1},...,\frac{x_N}{1-x_N}\right)=\sum_{\mu\supset \lambda}C_{\lambda\mu}s_\mu(x_1,...,x_N),$$
where $s$ are the ...
16
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Is there a "natural" proof of the equality $4^2=2^4$?
This question, or rather any answer that it might receive, would probably belong to the realm of Awfully sophisticated proof for simple facts. Still, I claim that I have quite serious motivation for ...
16
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382
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Representation categories and homology
Let $G$ be a finite group.
Let $\mathcal{C}=Rep-G$ be the rigid $\mathbb{C}$-linear symmetric monoidal category of finite dimensional complex representations of $G$.
Can we recover some homological ...
16
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Capelli determinant = Duflo ( determinant) - was it known ?
Question briefly. Was this fact known: Capelli determinant = Duflo (determinant) ? (This is an equality of the two central elements in universal enveloping of Lie algebra $gl_n$).
I googled a lot ...
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Comparing the Kazhdan-Lusztig and Steinberg pre-orders
Both Kazhdan-Lusztig and Steinberg have defined pairs of preorders on $S_n$. Kazhdan and Lusztig's preorders come from their basis:
We write $x\leq_L y$ if any left ideal spanned by K-L basis ...
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605
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Division fields of abelian varieties over function fields
Let $k$ be a finitely generated field (for example a finite field or a number field) and $K/k$ a finitely generated regular extension with $trdeg(K/k)=1$. Let $A/K$ be a principally polarized abelian ...
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representation theoretic interpretation of Jack polynomials
Monomial symmetric polynomials on $n$ variables $x_1, \ldots x_n$ form a natural basis of the space $\mathcal{S}_n$ of symmetric polynomials on $n$ variables and are defined by additive symmetrization ...
15
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541
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Applications of character sheaves
There are many important recent works (for example, by Lusztig, Bezrukavnikov-Finkelberg-Ostrik, Ben-Zvi-Nadler, Boyarchenko-Drinfeld, Lusztig-Yun, Vilonen-Xue) on character sheaves (which are certain ...
15
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The Monster Moonshine Module from the engineering or algorithmic point of view
From what I understand (see, e.g., this question), the Monster Moonshine Module is a kind if "third generation" (or "second quantization"?) after the Golay code (with automorphism group $M_{24}$) and ...
15
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PT Symmetry and the Riemann Hypothesis
Recently there have been articles in Quanta, in Science Alert, and at phys.org among others, on possible recent progress toward the Hilbert-Polya conjecture, which implies the Riemann Hypothesis. The ...
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Is the monster group maximal in SO(196883)?
$\DeclareMathOperator\SO{SO}$The smallest degree of a nontrivial complex representation of the monster group $ M $ is $ 196883 $. This irrep has Schur indicator $ 1 $, so the image must lie in the ...
14
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298
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Representation theory of Kac-Moody algebras in positive characteristic
I have been trying to learn about the representation theory of Kac-Moody algebras in positive characteristic. However, my usual reference for the subject (Infinite dimensional Lie algebras by Kac) ...
14
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262
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Which irreducible representations of the symmetric group are eigenspaces of class sums?
In the setting of complex representations of finite groups, a class sum $1_C=\sum_{g\in C} g$ acts on an irreducible representation $V$ as $\lambda(C,V)\operatorname{Id}$, where $\lambda(C,V)=|C|\...
14
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891
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Local proof of Grothendieck-Riemann-Roch theorem
There is a theorem by Feigin and Tsygan(Theorem 1.3.3 here) which they call "Riemann-Roch" theorem.
Given a smooth morphism $f:S\to N$ of relative dimension $n$ and a vector bundle $E/S$ of ...
14
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414
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Does the category of G-spectra know G?
I was recently in the situation of having access to the category of $G$-modules (for some group $G$ which I had forgotten), as just a category, i.e. no monoidal structure, together with the forgetful ...
13
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Is there a simple proof that representations of GL(n,k) are determined by their restriction to diagonal matrices?
Let $k$ be a field of characteristic zero. The general linear group $\mathrm{GL}(n,k)$ has a subgroup $\mathrm{D}(n,k)$ consisting of invertible diagonal matrices. These are linear algebraic groups ...