For a transitive finite -set with at least two points, the augmentation subrepresentation of a permutation representation is irreducible if and only if the action is two-transitive. Indeed, writing the permutation character as gives
The augmentation subrepresentation is irreducible exactly when this norm is two. By the character norm of a permutation representation, that means that the diagonal and the off-diagonal are the only two orbits on , which is exactly two-transitivity.
The vector
is fixed by every element of , so is a trivial representation. The coefficient-sum subspace
is also -invariant, and every vector has a unique decomposition into a constant vector and an element of . Hence
Here is the augmentation subrepresentation of a permutation representation.