Paper 3, Section II, I

Representation Theory
Part II, 2019

In this question all representations are complex and GG is a finite group.

(a) State and prove Mackey's theorem. State the Frobenius reciprocity theorem.

(b) Let XX be a finite GG-set and let CX\mathbb{C} X be the corresponding permutation representation. Pick any orbit of GG on XX : it is isomorphic as a GG-set to G/HG / H for some subgroup HH of GG. Write down the character of C(G/H)\mathbb{C}(G / H).

(i) Let CG\mathbb{C}_{G} be the trivial representation of GG. Show that CX\mathbb{C} X may be written as a direct sum

CX=CGV\mathbb{C} X=\mathbb{C}_{G} \oplus V

for some representation VV.

(ii) Using the results of (a) compute the character inner product 1HG,1HGG\left\langle 1_{H} \uparrow^{G}, 1_{H} \uparrow^{G}\right\rangle_{G} in terms of the number of (H,H)(H, H) double cosets.

(iii) Now suppose that X2|X| \geqslant 2, so that V0V \neq 0. By writing C(G/H)\mathbb{C}(G / H) as a direct sum of irreducible representations, deduce from (ii) that the representation VV is irreducible if and only if GG acts 2 -transitively. In that case, show that VV is not the trivial representation.