Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2018/iii/paper-138/3/c/solution

First the product is also split. Write and . The ideal
is nilpotent: if , every product of of its factors vanishes. The quotient is
a product of full matrix algebras over , because each is split. A nilpotent ideal lies in the Jacobson radical, and a semisimple quotient forces the reverse inclusion, so is exactly the radical. Thus is a splitting field for finite group representations of the product.
For simple modules , Schur lemma and splitting give . The Jacobson density theorem therefore makes the image of on the full . Tensoring these maps shows that the product algebra acts on through its full endomorphism algebra. Hence this tensor product of group representations is simple.
On restriction to , it is a direct sum of copies of . If two external tensor products are isomorphic, their restrictions and the Jordan–Hölder theorem force ; restricting to similarly forces . The converse follows by tensoring the isomorphisms.
Finally, the p-regular conjugacy classes of are precisely pairs of such classes in the factors. The corrected result in part (b) counts as many simples for the product as pairs of simples for the two factors. Our pairwise nonisomorphic tensor products already attain that count, so they exhaust all simples. Thus , uniquely indexed by pairs of simple isomorphism classes.

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