Orbits of the hyperoctahedral group as Euclidean designs

The hyperoctahedral group H in n dimensions (the Weyl group of Lie type B _n ) is the subgroup of the orthogonal group generated by all transpositions of coordinates and reflections with respect to coordinate hyperplanes.With e ₁ , ..., e _n denoting the standard basis vectors of ⁿ and letting x _k = e ₁ + ··· + e _k (k = 1, 2, ..., n), the set

Equi-distribution over descent classes of the hyperoctahedral group

A classical result of MacMahon shows that the length function and the major index are equi-distributed over the symmetric group. Foata and Schützenberger gave a remarkable refinement and proved that these parameters are equi-distributed over inverse descent classes, implying bivariate equi-distribution identities. Type B analogues of these results, refinements and consequences are given in this paper.     

Stable decompositions for some symmetric group characters arising in braid group cohomology

We prove that certain permutation characters for the symmetric group Σn decompose in a manner that is independent of n for large n. This result is a key ingredient in the recent work of T. Church and B. Farb, who obtain a “representation stability” theorem for the character of Σn acting on the cohomology Hp(Pn,C) of the pure braid group Pn.     

Eigenvalues of the derangement graph

We consider the Cayley graph on the symmetric group Sn generated by derangements. It is well known that the eigenvalues of this graph are indexed by partitions of n. We investigate how these eigenvalues are determined by the shape of their corresponding partitions. In particular, we show that the sign of an eigenvalue is the parity of the number of cells below the first row of the corresponding Ferrers diagram. We also provide some lower and upper bounds for the absolute values of these eigenvalues.     

Coloured peak algebras and Hopf algebras

For G a finite abelian group, we study the properties of general equivalence relations on G _n = G ⁿ ⋊ _n , the wreath product of G with the symmetric group _n , also known as the G-coloured symmetric group. We show that under certain conditions, some equivalence relations give rise to subalgebras of G _n as well as graded connected Hopf subalgebras of ⨁ _{n≥ o} G _n . In particular we construct a G-coloured peak subalgebra of the Mantaci-Reutenauer algebra (or G-coloured descent algebra). We show that the direct sum of the G-coloured peak algebras is a Hopf algebra. We also have similar results for a G-colouring of the Loday-Ronco Hopf algebras of planar binary trees. For many of the equivalence relations under study, we obtain a functor from the category of finite abelian groups to the category of graded connected Hopf algebras. We end our investigation by describing a Hopf endomorphism of the G-coloured descent Hopf algebra whose image is the G-coloured peak Hopf algebra. We outline a theory of combinatorial G-coloured Hopf algebra for which the G-coloured quasi-symmetric Hopf algebra and the graded dual to the G-coloured peak Hopf algebra are central objects. 2000 Mathematics Subject Classification Primary: 16S99; Secondary: 05E05, 05E10, 16S34, 16W30, 20B30, 20E22Bergeron is partially supported by NSERC and CRC, CanadaHohlweg is partially supported by CRC     

A design and a geometry for the group Fi 22

The Fischer group Fi ₂₂ acts as a rank 3 group of automorphisms of a symmetric 2-(14080,1444,148) design. This design does not have a doubly transitive automorphism group, since there is a partial linear space with lines of size 4 defined combinatorially from the design and preserved by its automorphism group. We investigate this geometry and determine the structure of various subspaces of it.      

On the continuity of the evaluation mapping associated with a group and its character group

For an abelian Hausdorff group , let denote the character group endowed with the compact-open topology and let denote the canonical homomorphism. We show that the evaluation mapping from into the torus is continuous if and only if is locally compact and is continuous. If is injective and open, then the evaluation mapping is continuous if and only if is locally compact. Several examples and counterexamples are given.

     

Generalized characters of the symmetric group

Normalized irreducible characters of the symmetric group S(n) can be understood as zonal spherical functions of the Gelfand pair (S(n)×S(n),diagS(n)). They form an orthogonal basis in the space of the functions on the group S(n) invariant with respect to conjugations by S(n). In this paper we consider a different Gelfand pair connected with the symmetric group, that is an “unbalanced” Gelfand pair (S(n)×S(n−1),diagS(n−1)). Zonal spherical functions of this Gelfand pair form an orthogonal basis in a larger space of functions on S(n), namely in the space of functions invariant with respect to conjugations by S(n−1). We refer to these zonal spherical functions as normalized generalized characters of S(n). The main discovery of the present paper is that these generalized characters can be computed on the same level as the irreducible characters of the symmetric group. The paper gives a Murnaghan-Nakayama type rule, a Frobenius type formula, and an analogue of the determinantal formula for the generalized characters of S(n).     

Linear maps leaving the alternating group invariant

Let A_n be the group of n×n even permutation matrices, and let V_n be the real linear space spanned by A_n. The purpose of this note is to characterize those linear operators φ on V_n satisfying φ(A_n)=A_n. This answers a question raised by C.K. Li, B.S. Tam, N.K. Tsing [Linear Algebra Appl., to appear].     

On the Character Degree Graph of Solvable Groups, I Three Primes

For any finite solvable group G we show that if three primes dividing the degrees of certain irreducible characters of G are given, then there exists an irreducible character of G with degree divisible by at least two of the given primes. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Distinguishing labeling of group actions

Suppose Γ is a group acting on a set X. An r-labeling f:X→{1,2,…,r} of X is distinguishing (with respect to Γ) if the only label preserving permutation of X in Γ is the identity. The distinguishing number, D_Γ(X), of the action of Γ on X is the minimum r for which there is an r-labeling which is distinguishing. This paper investigates the relation between the cardinality of a set X and the distinguishing numbers of group actions on X. For a positive integer n, let D(n) be the set of distinguishing numbers of transitive group actions on a set X of cardinality n, i.e., D(n)={D_Γ(X):|X|=n and Γ acts transitively on X}. We prove that . Then we consider the problem of an arbitrary fixed group Γ acting on a large set. We prove that if for any action of Γ on a set Y, for each proper normal subgroup H of Γ, D_H(Y)≤2, then there is an integer n such that for any set X with |X|≥n, for any action of Γ on X with no fixed points, D_Γ(X)≤2.     

Stanley's character polynomials and coloured factorisations in the symmetric group

In Stanley [R.P. Stanley, Irreducible symmetric group characters of rectangular shape, Sém. Lothar. Combin. 50 (2003) B50d, 11 p.] the author introduces polynomials which help evaluate symmetric group characters and conjectures that the coefficients of the polynomials are positive. In [R.P. Stanley, A conjectured combinatorial interpretation of the normalised irreducible character values of the symmetric group, math.CO/0606467, 2006] the same author gives a conjectured combinatorial interpretation for the coefficients of the polynomials. Here, we prove the conjecture for the terms of highest degree.     

特征标次数的重数与可解群结构

非线性不可约特征标次数的重数全部为1的有限群的分类是熟知的.对可解群,本文讨论更一般的,即非线性不可约特征标次数的重数都与群阶互素的有限群的纯群论性质.特别地,得到了非线性不可约特征标次数的重数均小于2p的奇阶群G的分类结果.这里p为群阶|G|的最小素因子.     

Character formulae for classical groups

We give formulae relating the value X_λ (g) of an irreducible character of a classical group G to entries of powers of the matrix g ε G. This yields a far-reaching generalization of a result of J.L. Cisneros-Molina concerning the GL ₂ case [1]. Partially supported by OTKA grants T 042769 and T 046365     

Sets of permutations that generate the symmetric group pairwise

The paper contains proofs of the following results. For all sufficiently large odd integers n, there exists a set of ²n−1 permutations that pairwise generate the symmetric group Sn. There is no set of ²n−1+1 permutations having this property. For all sufficiently large integers n with n≡2mod4, there exists a set of ²n−2 even permutations that pairwise generate the alternating group An. There is no set of ²n−2+1 permutations having this property.     

Character sheaves on the semi-stable locus of a group compactification

We study the intermediate extension of the character sheaves on an adjoint group to the semi-stable locus of its wonderful compactification. We show that the intermediate extension can be described by a direct image construction. As a consequence, we show that the “ordinary” restriction of a character sheaf on the compactification to a “semi-stable stratum” is a shift of semisimple perverse sheaf and is closely related to Lusztig's restriction functor (from a character sheaf on a reductive group to a direct sum of character sheaves on a Levi subgroup). We also provide a (conjectural) formula for the boundary values inside the semi-stable locus of an irreducible character of a finite group of Lie type, which gives a partial answer to a question of Springer (2006) [21]. This formula holds for Steinberg character and characters coming from generic character sheaves. In the end, we verify Lusztig's conjecture Lusztig (2004) [16, 12.6] inside the semi-stable locus of the wonderful compactification.     

One (96,20,4)-symmetric Design and related Nonabelian Difference Sets

New (96,20,4)-symmetric design has been constructed, unique under the assumption of an automorphism group of order 576 action. The correspondence between a (96,20,4)-symmetric design having regular automorphism group and a difference set with the same parameters has been used to obtain difference sets in five nonabelian groups of order 96. None of them belongs to the class of groups that allow the application of so far known construction (McFarland, Dillon) for McFarland difference sets.AMS lassification: 05B05