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Questions tagged [rt.representation-theory]

Linear representations of algebras and groups, Lie theory, associative algebras, multilinear algebra.

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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,...
Frieder Ladisch's user avatar
43 votes
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2k views

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 ...
ARupinski's user avatar
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38 votes
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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 ...
Benjamin Steinberg's user avatar
37 votes
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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 ...
Geoff Robinson's user avatar
37 votes
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922 views

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-...
Urs Schreiber's user avatar
31 votes
0 answers
919 views

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" ($b$), "...
Sebastien Palcoux's user avatar
29 votes
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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 ...
T. Amdeberhan's user avatar
24 votes
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813 views

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 ...
semisimpleton's user avatar
24 votes
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730 views

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 ...
Adam Nyman's user avatar
23 votes
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566 views

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 $V$. ...
Charles Rezk's user avatar
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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 ...
André Henriques's user avatar
22 votes
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811 views

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 ...
Alex R.'s user avatar
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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 ...
Chris H's user avatar
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21 votes
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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 \...
Suvrit's user avatar
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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 $n\gg 0$, ...
Sam Hopkins's user avatar
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20 votes
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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 votes
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445 views

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;\...
Theo Johnson-Freyd's user avatar
20 votes
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763 views

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_\...
Jim Humphreys's user avatar
19 votes
0 answers
642 views

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 ...
Will Sawin's user avatar
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19 votes
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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 ...
pregunton's user avatar
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18 votes
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373 views

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 ...
André Henriques's user avatar
18 votes
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612 views

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 ...
Sergei Akbarov's user avatar
18 votes
0 answers
532 views

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 ...
Mariano Suárez-Álvarez's user avatar
18 votes
0 answers
469 views

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 ...
Leonid Petrov's user avatar
18 votes
0 answers
524 views

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 ...
Jim Humphreys's user avatar
18 votes
0 answers
895 views

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 ...
André Henriques's user avatar
17 votes
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402 views

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 ...
Alexander Chervov's user avatar
17 votes
0 answers
1k views

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 ...
Daniel Litt's user avatar
17 votes
0 answers
704 views

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 (...
Libli's user avatar
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17 votes
0 answers
692 views

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 ...
Alexander Chervov's user avatar
17 votes
0 answers
975 views

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 ...
Mare's user avatar
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17 votes
0 answers
547 views

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 $\bigotimes^{2r}S_k$ ...
Bruce Westbury's user avatar
17 votes
0 answers
917 views

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 $0,1,2,...,r$; $\...
Jeffrey Adams's user avatar
16 votes
0 answers
188 views

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 $m = 2$...
Ilia Smilga's user avatar
  • 1,574
16 votes
0 answers
557 views

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 ...
Marcel's user avatar
  • 2,552
16 votes
0 answers
755 views

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 ...
მამუკა ჯიბლაძე's user avatar
16 votes
0 answers
382 views

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 ...
Ehud Meir's user avatar
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16 votes
0 answers
824 views

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 ...
Alexander Chervov's user avatar
16 votes
0 answers
530 views

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 ...
Ben Webster's user avatar
  • 44.7k
16 votes
0 answers
605 views

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 ...
Sebastian Petersen's user avatar
16 votes
0 answers
1k views

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 ...
John Jiang's user avatar
  • 4,466
15 votes
0 answers
541 views

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 ...
Yellow Pig's user avatar
  • 2,964
15 votes
0 answers
416 views

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 ...
Gro-Tsen's user avatar
  • 32.5k
15 votes
0 answers
2k views

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 ...
Stopple's user avatar
  • 11.1k
14 votes
0 answers
527 views

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 ...
Ian Gershon Teixeira's user avatar
14 votes
0 answers
298 views

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) ...
Arthur's user avatar
  • 1,389
14 votes
0 answers
262 views

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|\...
Hjalmar Rosengren's user avatar
14 votes
0 answers
891 views

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 ...
SashaP's user avatar
  • 7,377
14 votes
0 answers
414 views

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 ...
Vivek Shende's user avatar
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13 votes
0 answers
509 views

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 ...
John Baez's user avatar
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