 Solution

A group representation on a vector space $W$ is a group homomorphism $\rho :G\to GL(W)$: $\rho (gh)=\rho (g)\rho (h)$ and $\rho (e)=I$. An invariant subspace $U$ obeys $\rho (g)U\subseteq U$ for every $g$. A nonzero representation is irreducible if its only invariant subspaces are $0$ and $W$. It is a faithful representation if it is injective, equivalently if its group kernel is $\{e\}$. Its character is ${\chi }_{\rho }(g)=\mathrm{tr}\rho (g)$. For inequivalent complex irreducible representations of a finite group, character orthogonality is

Use right-to-left composition of permutations and assign the matrix labels consistently byThe resulting Cayley table, with row multiplying column, isConjugation relabels the entries of a cycle, preserving its length. Thus the conjugacy classes are

Define the permutation representation by $P_{\sigma }{e}_j=e_{\sigma (j)}$, or $(P_{\sigma }{)}_{ij}={\delta }_{i,\sigma (j)}$. Applying it to a basis vector proves $P_{\sigma }{P}_{\tau }=P_{\sigma \tau }$. The six assignments above produce exactly the listed matrices. They are distinct, and $P_{\sigma }=I$ forces $\sigma (j)=j$ for every $j$, so the representation is faithful.

Every permutation fixes $(1,1,1)$, hence fixes every vector $(c,c,c)$. Therefore $V_0$ is a one-dimensional invariant subspace carrying the trivial representation. Its orthogonal complement issince the inner product with $(c,c,c)$ is $c(v_1+v_2+v_3)$. Permuting coordinates preserves their sum, so this plane is invariant too. Every real vector has the unique decompositionThus the permutation representation is the direct sum of group representations on the line and the plane.

To find the eigenvectors of $A$, note that $A(v_1,v_2,v_3)=(v_3,v_1,v_2)$. With $\zeta =e^{2\pi i/3}$, its three eigenvalues and eigenspaces areThe only real eigenvalue is one, whose eigenline is $V_0$, so $A$ has no nonzero real eigenvector in $V_0^{\perp }$. A proper nonzero real invariant subspace of that two-dimensional plane would be a line, giving such an eigenvector. Hence the plane representation is irreducible over $\mathbb{R}$.

For the later complex dimension-count theorem one should also establish irreducibility over $\mathbb{C}$; real irreducibility alone would not imply it in general. In the complexified plane, the only candidate $A$-invariant lines are its $\zeta$ and ${\zeta }^2$ eigenlines. But $C$ exchanges them:Neither is invariant under the whole group, proving complex irreducibility as well. The required decomposition is thereforewhere $W$ is the standard representation of the symmetric group for three letters. Its character is obtained by subtracting one from the number of fixed coordinates: on the three classes it is $(2,-1,0)$.

Finally, the sign representation gives a second one-dimensional irreducible, with value $+1$ on $I,A,B$ and $-1$ on the transpositions. These are exactly the two one-dimensional possibilities: if $r=A,s=C$, a one-dimensional representation sends them to commuting nonzero scalars $v,u$. The relations $r^3=s^2=e$ and $srs=r^{-1}$ imply $v^3=u^2=1$ and $v=v^{-1}$. Hence $v=1$ and $u=\pm 1$, the trivial and sign choices. Together with the two-dimensional $W$, these giveThe sum of squares of irreducible representation dimensions leaves room for no other irreducible. Thus there are exactly two one-dimensional and one two-dimensional complex irreducible representations.