A1.19

Symmetries and Groups in Physics
Part II, 2004

(i) State and prove Maschke's theorem for finite-dimensional representations of finite groups.

(ii) S3S_{3} is the group of bijections on {1,2,3}\{1,2,3\}. Find the irreducible representations of S3S_{3}, state their dimensions and give their character table.

Let T2T_{2} be the set of objects T2={ai1i2:i1,i2=1,2,3}T_{2}=\left\{a_{i_{1} i_{2}}: i_{1}, i_{2}=1,2,3\right\}. The operation of the permutation group S3S_{3} on T2T_{2} is defined by the operation of the elements of S3S_{3} separately on each index i1i_{1} and i2i_{2}. For example,

P12:a13a23,P231:a23a31,P13:a33a11P_{12}: a_{13} \rightarrow a_{23}, \quad P_{231}: a_{23} \rightarrow a_{31}, \quad P_{13}: a_{33} \rightarrow a_{11}

By considering a representative operator from each conjugacy class of S3S_{3}, find the table of group characters for the representation T2\mathcal{T}_{2} of S3S_{3} acting on T2T_{2}. Hence, deduce the irreducible representations into which T2\mathcal{T}_{2} decomposes.