Primes dividing the degrees of the real characters

Let G be a finite group and let Irr(G) denote the set of all complex irreducible characters of G. The Ito–Michler Theorem asserts that if a prime p does not divide the degree of any χ Irr(G) then a Sylow p-subgroup P of G is normal in G. We prove a real-valued version of this theorem, where instead of Irr(G) we only consider the subset Irr_rv(G) consisting of all real-valued irreducible characters of G. We also prove that the character degree graph associated to Irr_rv(G) has at most 3 connected components. Similar results for the set of real conjugacy classes of G have also been obtained. Part of this paper was done while the second author visited the Mathematics Department of the Università di Firenze. He would like to thank the Department for its hospitality. The authors are also grateful to F. Lübeck for helping them with some computer calculations. The research of the first author was partially supported by MIUR research program “Teoria dei gruppi ed applicazioni”. This research of the second author was partially supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia proyecto MTM2004-06067-C02-01. The third author gratefully acknowledges the support of the NSA and the NSF.     

Two Remarks on the Glauberman-Isaacs Character Correspondence

Let the finite group A act as an automorphism group on the finite group G. When (¦G¦,¦A¦) = 1,we have the Glauberman-Isaacs natural character correspondence (bijection) *: Irr(G)^A (the A-fixed irreducible characters of (G)) → Irr(C_G(A)) (the irreducible characters of C_G(A)). We present a short proof of a Theorem of G. Navarro ([9, Theorem A]), and a reduction of the general conjecture that Χ*(1) divides Χ(1) for all Χ ∈ Irr(G)^A to the verification of this conjecture in which G is quasi-simple.     

Simple exceptional groups of Lie type are determined by their character degrees

Let G be a finite group. Denote by Irr(G) the set of all irreducible complex characters of G. Let cd(G)={c(1)  |  c ? Irr(G)}{{\rm cd}(G)=\{\chi(1)\;|\;\chi\in {\rm Irr}(G)\}} be the set of all irreducible complex character degrees of G forgetting multiplicities, and let X₁(G) be the set of all irreducible complex character degrees of G counting multiplicities. Let H be any non-abelian simple exceptional group of Lie type. In this paper, we will show that if S is a non-abelian simple group and cd(S) í cd(H){{\rm cd}(S)\subseteq {\rm cd}(H)} then S must be isomorphic to H. As a consequence, we show that if G is a finite group with X₁(G) í X₁(H){{\rm X}_1(G)\subseteq {\rm X}_1(H)} then G is isomorphic to H. In particular, this implies that the simple exceptional groups of Lie type are uniquely determined by the structure of their complex group algebras.     

Correspondences Between 2-Brauer Characters of Solvable Groups

Let G be a finite solvable group and let p be a prime. Let P ∈ Syl _p (G) and N = N _G (P). We prove that there exists a natural bijection between the 2-Brauer irreducible characters of p′-degree of G and those of N _G (P).     

Simple exceptional groups of Lie type are determined by their character degrees

Let G be a finite group. Denote by Irr(G) the set of all irreducible complex characters of G. Let ${{\rm cd}(G)=\{\chi(1)\;|\;\chi\in {\rm Irr}(G)\}}$ be the set of all irreducible complex character degrees of G forgetting multiplicities, and let X₁(G) be the set of all irreducible complex character degrees of G counting multiplicities. Let H be any non-abelian simple exceptional group of Lie type. In this paper, we will show that if S is a non-abelian simple group and ${{\rm cd}(S)\subseteq {\rm cd}(H)}$ then S must be isomorphic to H. As a consequence, we show that if G is a finite group with ${{\rm X}_1(G)\subseteq {\rm X}_1(H)}$ then G is isomorphic to H. In particular, this implies that the simple exceptional groups of Lie type are uniquely determined by the structure of their complex group algebras.     

On the average degree of some irreducible characters of a finite group

Let G be a finite group and N be a non-trivial normal subgroup of G, such that the average degree of irreducible characters in $\mathrm{Irr}(G|N)$ is less than or equal to 16/5. Then, we prove that N is solvable. Also, we prove the solvability of G, by assuming that the average degree of irreducible characters in $\mathrm{Irr}(G|N)$ is strictly less than 16/5. We show that the bounds are sharp.     

The trivial intersection problem for characters of principal indecomposable modules

For a prime p and a finite group G let Φ_p(G) denote the complex character associated to the projective indecomposable module in characteristic p with trivial head. Let Irr(Φ_p(G)) denote the set of irreducible characters occurring as constituents in Φ_p(G). We characterize all finite simple groups which satisfy Irr(Φ_p(G))∩Irr(Φ_q(G))={1_G} for all primes p≠q.     

Alternating and Sporadic Simple Groups are Determined by Their Character Degrees

Let G be a finite group. Denote by Irr(G) the set of all irreducible complex characters of G. Let cd(G) be the set of all irreducible complex character degrees of G forgetting multiplicities, that is, cd(G) = {χ(1) : χ ∈ Irr(G)} and let cd ^*(G) be the set of all irreducible complex character degrees of G counting multiplicities. Let H be an alternating group of degree at least 5, a sporadic simple group or the Tits group. In this paper, we will show that if G is a non-abelian simple group and cd(G) í cd(H)cd(G)\subseteq cd(H) then G must be isomorphic to H. As a consequence, we show that if G is a finite group with cd^*(G) í cd^*(H)cd^*(G)\subseteq cd^*(H) then G is isomorphic to H. This gives a positive answer to Question 11.8 (a) in (Unsolved problems in group theory: the Kourovka notebook, 16th edn) for alternating groups, sporadic simple groups or the Tits group.     

Odd character correspondences in solvable groups

Let G be a finite solvable group, p be some prime, let P be a Sylow p-subgroup of G, and let N be its normalizer in G. Assume that N has odd order. Then, we prove that there exists a bijection from the set of all irreducible characters of G of degree prime to p to the set of all the irreducible characters of degree prime to p of N such that it preserves ± the degree modulo p, the field of values, and the Schur index over every field of characteristic zero. This strengthens a more general recent result [A. Turull, Character correspondences in solvable groups, J. Algebra 295 (2006) 157–178], but only for the case under consideration here. In addition, we prove some other strong character correspondences that have very good rationality properties. As one consequence, we prove that a solvable group G has a non-trivial rational irreducible character with degree prime to p if and only if the order of the normalizer of a Sylow p-subgroup of G has even order.     

The Glauberman Correspondence and Subgroups of Operator Groups: a Counterexample

Let G and A be finite groups with coprime orders, and supposethat A acts on G by automorphisms. Let (G, A):Irr_A(G)Irr(C_G(A))be the Glauberman–Isaacs correspondence. Let B A andIrr_A(G). We exhibit a counterexample to the conjecture that(G, A) is an irreducible constituent of the restriction of (G,B) to C_G(A). 1991 Mathematics Subject Classification 20C15.     

On the relative character correspondences

Let π(G,A):Irr_A(G)→Irr(C_G(A)) be the Glauberman–Isaacs correspondence, where G and A are finite groups with coprime orders and A acts on G by automorphisms. Let B be a subgroup of A. In this setting, we give some new conditions for the fixed-point subgroups C_G(A) and C_G(B) such that χπ(G,A) is an irreducible constituent of the restriction of χπ(G,B) to C_G(A) for all χIrr_A(G).     

A Bijection for the Alperin Weight Conjecture in <Emphasis Type="Italic">S</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis></Subscript>

The Alperin weight conjecture states that if G is a finite group and p is a prime, then the number of irreducible Brauer characters of a group G should be equal to the number of conjugacy classes of p-weights of G. This conjecture is known to be true for the symmetric group S _n , however there is no explicit bijection given between the two sets. In this paper we develop an explicit bijection between the p-weights of S _n and a certain set of partitions that is known to have the same cardinality as the irreducible Brauer characters of S _n . We also develop some properties of this bijection, especially in relation to a certain class of partitions whose corresponding Specht modules over fields of characteristic p are known to be irreducible.     

A new result on Davenport constant

Let G be a finite abelian group of order n and Davenport constant D(G). Let S=⁰h(S)_∏g∈Ggvg(S)∈F(G) be a sequence with a maximal multiplicity h(S) attained by 0 and t=|S|?n+D(G)−1. Then 0∈k_∑(S) for every 1?k?t+1−D(G). This is a refinement of the fundamental result of Gao [W.D. Gao, A combinatorial problem on finite abelian groups, J. Number Theory 58 (1996) 100-103].     

关于Brauer特征标扩张的一点注记

研究有限群特征标可扩张的情况是有限群表示论领域中一个有意义的问题.设G为有限群,用Irr（G）表示G的所有不可约复特征标构成的集合.设N（？）G,θ∈Irr（N）且θ是G-不变.如果（｜G/N｜,o（θ）θ（1））=1,则[1]中的推论8.16说明了此时υ到G有唯一的扩张χ,且o（χ）=o（θ）.此结论启发了我们可以从特征标的行列式阶的角度来思考特征标扩张的情形.本文将利用有限群Brauer特征标的行列式阶,着重考虑Brauer特征标的可扩张情形.另外我们也得到了一个关于Brauer特征标次数的结论.     

3-Blocks with Abelian defect groups isomorphic to Z_{3^m } \times Z_{3^n }

Let G be a finite group and let p be a fixed prime number. Let B be a p-block of G with defect group D. In this paper, we give results on 3-blocks with abelian defect groups isomorphic to Z3m ×Z3n. We are particularly interested in the number of irreducible ordinary characters and the number of irreducible Brauer characters in the block. We calculate two important block invariants k（B） and l（B） in this case.     

Restriction of characters and products of characters

Let G be a finite p-group, for some prime p, and ψ, θ ∈ Irr(G) be irreducible complex characters of G. It has been proved that if, in addition, ψ and θ are faithful characters, then the product ψθ is a multiple of an irreducible or it is the nontrivial linear combination of at least (p + 1)/2 distinct irreducible characters of G. We show that if we do not require the characters to be faithful, then given any integer k > 0, we can always find a p-group P and irreducible characters Ψ and Θ of P such that the product ΨΘ is the nontrivial combination of exactly k distinct irreducible characters. We do this by translating examples of decompositions of restrictions of characters into decompositions of products of characters.     

Taketa’s theorem for some character degree sets

Let cd(G) be the set of irreducible complex character degrees of a finite group G. The Taketa problem conjectures that if G is a finite solvable group, then ${{\rm dl}(G) \leqslant |{\rm cd} (G)|}$ , where dl(G) is the derived length of G. In this note, we show that this inequality holds if either all nonlinear irreducible characters of G have even degrees or all irreducible character degrees are odd. Also, we prove that this inequality holds if all irreducible character degrees have exactly the same prime divisors. Finally, Isaacs and Knutson have conjectured that the Taketa problem might be true in a more general setting. In particular, they conjecture that the inequality ${{\rm dl}(N) \leqslant |{\rm cd} {(G \mid N)}|}$ holds for all normal solvable subgroups N of a group G. We show that this conjecture holds if ${{\rm cd} {(G \mid N')}}$ is a set of non-trivial p–powers for some fixed prime p.     

Topological divisors of zero and Shilov boundary

Let L be a field complete for a non-trivial ultrametric absolute value and let (A,‖⋅‖) be a commutative normed L-algebra with unity whose spectral semi-norm is ‖⋅_‖si. Let Mult(A,‖⋅‖) be the set of continuous multiplicative semi-norms of A, let S be the Shilov boundary for (A,‖⋅_‖si) and let ψ∈Mult(A,‖⋅_‖si). Then ψ belongs to S if and only if for every neighborhood U of ψ in Mult(A,‖⋅‖), there exists θ∈U and g∈A satisfying ‖g_‖si=θ(g) and . Suppose A is uniform, let f∈A and let Z(f)={?∈Mult(A,‖⋅‖)|?(f)=0}. Then f is a topological divisor of zero if and only if there exists ψ∈S such that ψ(f)=0. Suppose now A is complete. If f is not a divisor of zero, then it is a topological divisor of zero if and only if the ideal fA is not closed in A. Suppose A is ultrametric, complete and Noetherian. All topological divisors of zero are divisors of zero. This applies to affinoid algebras. Let A be a Krasner algebra H(D) without non-trivial idempotents: an element f∈H(D) is a topological divisor of zero if and only if fH(D) is not a closed ideal; moreover, H(D) is a principal ideal ring if and only if it has no topological divisors of zero but 0 (this new condition adds to the well-known set of equivalent conditions found in 1969).     

Zeros of Brauer characters

The authors obtain a sufficient condition to determine whether an element is a vanishing regular element of some Brauer character. More precisely, let G be a finite group and p be a fixed prime, and H = G′ O^p′ (G); if g ∈ G⁰ - H⁰ with o(gH) coprime to the number of irreducible p-Brauer characters of G, then there always exists a nonlinear irreducible p-Brauer character which vanishes on g. The authors also showin this note that the sums of certain irreducible p-Brauer characters take the value zero on every element of G⁰ - H⁰.     

Correspondences between constituents of projective characters

Let G be a finite p-solvable group. Let P ∈ Syl _p (G) and N = N _G (P). We prove that there exists a natural bijection between the irreducible constituents of p′-degree of the principal projective character of G and those of . Received: 2 May 2007, Revised: 17 September 2007