Professional Documents
Culture Documents
VIPUL NAIK
Abstract. The course Representation Theory of Finite Groups was taught by Senthamarai Kan-
nan. Here, I give the list of important results proved in this course.
2. Artin’s theorem
2.1. Statement. Artin’s theorem states that th class functions induced from cyclic subgroups cover the
whole group. Here’s a formulation of Artin’s theorem:
Theorem 1 (Artin’s theorem). Let X be a collection of subgroups of a group G. Then, the following
are equivalent:
• The union of conjugates of subgroups inside X is the whole of G.
• FC (G) is generated by the images of Ind : FC (H) → FC (G) for H ∈ X.
Vipul
c Naik, B.Sc. (Hons) Math and C.S., Chennai Mathematical Institute.
1
• Every element of R(G) is a Q-linear combination of elements induced from R(H) as H varies
over members of X.
2.2. Proof idea of Artin’s theorem. The equivalence of the second and third statements essentially
follows from the fact that if anything in R(G) is a combination of elements induced from R(H)s, then it
must be a Q-linear combination.
The hard part is showing that the first two are equivalent. For this, we prove that surjectivity of the
induction map is equivalent to injectivity of the restriction map. This comes from the following:
If H is a subgroup of G, then a class function on G is zero restricted to H if and only if
it is orthogonal to all class functions induced from H.
2.3. For cyclic subgroups. Artin’s theorem tells us, in particular, that the ring FC (G) is generated
by the class functions induced from FC (H) where H varies over cyclic subgroups.
For cyclic subgroups, we can actualyl say something stronger. We prove the following results:
• Given a cyclic group C, the class function that sends a particular generator to |C| and every
other element to 0 is in A ⊗ R(C). This follows from the second orthogonality theorem.
• Thus, in particular, for a cyclic group, any class function that sends generators to multiples of
|C| and other thigns to 0, lies inside A ⊗ R(C).
• On a group, the class function that sends each element to |G| is the sum of the induced class
functions from the θ class functions of cyclic subgroups.
• By using the induction-restriction formula, we obtain that any class function with integer values
divisible by |G| is in the sum of the induced parts from R(C) for cyclic subgroups C.
2.4. Why we cannot get Z-linear combinations. The main problem is that it may happen that the
characters may always take values in a certain ideal. This is because the indices ofall the cyclic subgroups
may not be relatively prime.
3. Brauer’s theorem
3.1. Statement. Quick definitions:
Theorem 2 (Frobenius’ thoerem). If f is a class function on G with values on A, and g = |G|, the
function g/(g, n)Ψn (f ) belongs to A ⊗ R(G).
Lemma 1. Let p be a prime number, and x a p-regular element. Let C×P be an associated elementary
subgroup. Suppose H does not contain any conjugate of this associated elementary subgroup. Then any
class function on H with values in A induced to a class function on G which takes a value congruent to
0 modulo pA.
Theorem 3 (Green’s converse to Brauer’s theorem). Let X be a collection of subgroups with the
property that R(G) is generated by the images of R(H) for H ∈ X. Then every elementary subgroup is
contained in some conjugate of an element of X.
5.3. Generalizations of Brauer’s theorem. Brauer’s theorem does not hold in its usual form when
we work over RK (G) where RK (G) is the ring of ring of characters of representations realizable over K.
What we need to do is enlarge the class of “elementary” subgroups.
3
Definition. A subgroup H of G is said to be ΓK − p elementary if its is the semidirect product of a
p-group P and a cyclic group C such that yxy −1 is xt for a suitable t ∈ ΓK .