Paper 2, Section II, I

Representation Theory
Part II, 2018

(a) Suppose HH is a subgroup of a finite group G,χG, \chi is an irreducible character of GG and φ1,,φr\varphi_{1}, \ldots, \varphi_{r} are the irreducible characters of HH. Show that in the restriction χH=a1φ1++arφr\chi \downarrow_{H}=a_{1} \varphi_{1}+\cdots+a_{r} \varphi_{r}, the multiplicities a1,,ara_{1}, \ldots, a_{r} satisfy

i=1rai2G:H\sum_{i=1}^{r} a_{i}^{2} \leqslant|G: H|

Determine necessary and sufficient conditions under which the inequality in ( \uparrow ) is actually an equality.

(b) Henceforth suppose that HH is a (normal) subgroup of index 2 in GG, and that χ\chi is an irreducible character of GG.

Lift the non-trivial linear character of G/HG / H to obtain a linear character of GG which satisfies

λ(g)={1 if gH1 if gH\lambda(g)= \begin{cases}1 & \text { if } g \in H \\ -1 & \text { if } g \notin H\end{cases}

(i) Show that the following are equivalent:

(1) χH\chi \downarrow_{H} is irreducible;

(2) χ(g)0\chi(g) \neq 0 for some gGg \in G with gHg \notin H;

(3) the characters χ\chi and χλ\chi \lambda of GG are not equal.

(ii) Suppose now that χH\chi \downarrow_{H} is irreducible. Show that if ψ\psi is an irreducible character of GG which satisfies

ψH=χH\psi \downarrow_{H}=\chi \downarrow_{H}

then either ψ=χ\psi=\chi or ψ=χλ.\psi=\chi \lambda .

(iii) Suppose that χH\chi \downarrow_{H} is the sum of two irreducible characters of HH, say χH=ψ1+ψ2\chi \downarrow_{H}=\psi_{1}+\psi_{2}. If ϕ\phi is an irreducible character of GG such that ϕH\phi \downarrow_{H} has ψ1\psi_{1} or ψ2\psi_{2} as a constituent, show that ϕ=χ\phi=\chi.

(c) Suppose that GG is a finite group with a subgroup KK of index 3 , and let χ\chi be an irreducible character of GG. Prove that

χK,χKK=1,2 or 3\left\langle\chi \downarrow_{K}, \chi \downarrow_{K}\right\rangle_{K}=1,2 \text { or } 3

Give examples to show that each possibility can occur, giving brief justification in each case.