Paper 1, Section II, G

Representation Theory
Part II, 2017

(a) Prove that if there exists a faithful irreducible complex representation of a finite group GG, then the centre Z(G)Z(G) is cyclic.

(b) Define the permutations a,b,cS6a, b, c \in S_{6} by

a=(123),b=(456),c=(23)(45),a=\left(\begin{array}{lll} 1 & 2 & 3 \end{array}\right), b=\left(\begin{array}{lll} 4 & 5 & 6 \end{array}\right), c=\left(\begin{array}{ll} 2 & 3 \end{array}\right)(45),

and let E=a,b,cE=\langle a, b, c\rangle.

(i) Using the relations a3=b3=c2=1,ab=ba,c1ac=a1a^{3}=b^{3}=c^{2}=1, a b=b a, c^{-1} a c=a^{-1} and c1bc=b1c^{-1} b c=b^{-1}, prove that EE has order 18 .

(ii) Suppose that ε\varepsilon and η\eta are complex cube roots of unity. Prove that there is a (matrix) representation ρ\rho of EE over C\mathbb{C} such that

a(ε00ε1),b(η00η1),c(0110)a \mapsto\left(\begin{array}{cc} \varepsilon & 0 \\ 0 & \varepsilon^{-1} \end{array}\right), \quad b \mapsto\left(\begin{array}{cc} \eta & 0 \\ 0 & \eta^{-1} \end{array}\right), \quad c \mapsto\left(\begin{array}{ll} 0 & 1 \\ 1 & 0 \end{array}\right)

(iii) For which values of ε,η\varepsilon, \eta is ρ\rho faithful? For which values of ε,η\varepsilon, \eta is ρ\rho irreducible?

(c) Note that a,b\langle a, b\rangle is a normal subgroup of EE which is isomorphic to C3×C3C_{3} \times C_{3}. By inducing linear characters of this subgroup, or otherwise, obtain the character table of EE.

Deduce that EE has the property that Z(E)Z(E) is cyclic but EE has no faithful irreducible representation over C\mathbb{C}.