2-modular defect groups of A5 Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-14
In characteristic , a Sylow subgroup of is a Klein four-group, and its normalizer is . Since has one block, Brauer first main theorem gives a unique block of with defect . No order-two subgroup can be a defect group of a block: both and equal , so the Brauer morphisms of a central block idempotent at and at are equal. A nonzero image is , since a group algebra of a p-group in characteristic p is local, and consequently is not maximal among subgroups with nonzero Brauer image.
Block induction 2026-10-14
Let be a block of a group algebra of with defect group of a block , where . Apply Brauer first main theorem inside to obtain its correspondent in . Composing that correspondent's central character of a block with the Brauer morphism from selects a unique block of a group algebra . It is the unique block of a group algebra whose restriction to contains the block bimodule as a direct summand. Its defect group of a block can be larger than when does not contain .
Brauer correspondent of a block 2026-10-14
The Brauer correspondent of a block of a group algebra with defect group of a block in is the corresponding block of furnished by Brauer first main theorem. The more general induced block is defined by block induction when the subgroup contains the centralizer of a defect group of .
Brauer morphism on a defect transfer ideal Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-14
For and , the Brauer morphism restricts to a surjectionThis follows from Brauer morphism and relative trace and the fact that is contained in . The target is an ideal in the commutative algebra . Applying primitive idempotents under a surjection of commutative Artinian ideals and the trace criterion for defect groups identifies block idempotents with defect group with the primitive idempotents of . Applying the same argument to gives Brauer first main theorem. The whole kernel need not be nilpotent, since blocks with smaller defect can be killed.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 iii Paper 5 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The Brauer morphism retains precisely the fixed group-basis elements under conjugation by :It is unital and surjective because . For multiplicativity, fix . Its coefficient in a product is . Conjugation by permutes these pairs and the summand is constant on each orbit. Nonsingleton orbits have p-divisible size and contribute zero. Singleton pairs have both entries in , so they give exactly the coefficient in . This proves the ring-homomorphism assertion.
Orbit sums form a basis of . A nonfixed orbit sum of is , a proper-subgroup relative trace. Conversely any proper-subgroup trace has zero coefficient on a fixed basis element, since that coefficient is multiplied by in . ThusThere is no assertion that this whole kernel is nilpotent.
Brauer first main theorem bijects the modular blocks of with defect and those of with defect , matching their nonzero Brauer images. Here is a proof with its auxiliary ingredients.
Write , and defineThese are ideals in the indicated commutative algebras, since an invariant multiplier passes through a relative trace. The Brauer morphism and relative trace identityfollows by letting act on . Fixed cosets have representatives in ; projection onto gives equal contributions on each other orbit, whose p-divisible size makes the contribution zero. Thus surjects onto .
To prove the trace criterion for defect groups, choose a p-subgroup of least order with a given block idempotent in . Such a choice exists because a Sylow gives . Write and replace by . If , the kernel formula and trace transitivity give . But is an Artinian local ring, and a finite sum of proper ideals cannot contain its identity. Multiplication by therefore forces for some smaller , a contradiction. Hence .
If is not conjugate into , its action on has no fixed coset and the same orbit argument gives . Every subgroup with nonzero Brauer image of is therefore conjugate into . Its maximal such subgroups are exactly the conjugates of , proving the definition's conjugacy assertion andAmong block idempotents in this ideal, the Brauer image at survives precisely when their defect is .
We also use primitive idempotents under a surjection of commutative Artinian ideals. Decompose the ambient algebras into local factors. The component of an ideal in a local factor is either the whole factor, possessing its identity, or a proper ideal in its nilpotent radical, possessing no nonzero idempotent. A nonzero quotient of a local algebra is local. A surjection of these ideals consequently bijects its surviving primitive idempotents with those of the target. Entire factors may be killed; the whole kernel need not be nilpotent.
Apply this result to . Its surviving primitive idempotents are exactly the modular blocks of with defect . Apply it also to , where the target is identical since and . Its surviving primitive idempotents are exactly the modular blocks of with defect . Matching images in proves Brauer first main theorem, in both directions and with uniqueness.
For the last construction, the intended hypothesis is that is a defect group of the source modular block . Put and use the theorem inside to obtain the corresponding modular block of . The centralizer condition gives , so maps into . Let be the central character of a block, retaining its residue field rather than assuming it equals . The unital compositesends exactly one global block idempotent to one, because their orthogonal idempotent images sum to one in a field. Define to be this unique modular block. This is block induction, independent of the chosen -conjugate of . It needs no containment of in , and its defect may be larger than . With that containment it agrees with the first-main-theorem correspondence.
The printed PDF does not require to be a defect group of . Its literal conditions do not always define the usual induced modular block. For example, over an algebraically closed field of characteristic three, take , as a point stabilizer, and . Then . The ordinary degree-three irreducible of gives a defect-zero modular block on reduction. The two distinct ordinary degree-three irreducibles of give distinct defect-zero modular blocks and . Both restrict to that same character of , with values on its identity, double transpositions and three-cycles.
The standard defect-zero lifting theorem says that these reductions are simple projective modules and their block algebras are full matrix algebras. Thus both module restrictions and contain the same modular block bimodule ; indeed each module restriction is isomorphic to it here. The actual defect of is 1, whose centralizer is , not a subgroup of . The unrelated subgroup cannot select between the two modular blocks. This is block induction requires the block's defect centralizer; the qualified construction above answers the intended request.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 iii Paper 3 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The Brauer first main theorem says that, for a fixed p-subgroup and , there is a bijection between blocks of a group algebra of with defect group of a block and blocks of with that defect group. Correspondents have the same nonzero image under . The integral version follows by modular reduction of block idempotents.
Here is a proof using relative traces. Put andThe latter ambient algebra is commutative because invariance under includes invariance under . The Brauer morphism and relative trace identity isIndeed acts on . Its fixed cosets are exactly . On a nonfixed orbit the terms have the same Brauer image, so the orbit contributes zero in characteristic . The fixed cosets give the right-hand side. Since every element of is -fixed, this proves that is a surjective algebra homomorphism of commutative ideals. The same argument for has exactly the same target.
We use the following elementary fact about primitive idempotents under a surjection of commutative Artinian ideals. Under a surjection of ideals in finite-dimensional commutative algebras, the primitive ambient idempotents lying in and having nonzero image correspond bijectively to the primitive idempotents in . To prove it, decompose the source ambient algebra into Artinian local rings . Either , or it is a proper, hence nilpotent, ideal. Proper components contribute no idempotents to the image. A surviving identity has corner , a local quotient of , so is primitive. The surviving identities are orthogonal and exhaust the idempotents of the target. Notice that this proof does not assert that the whole kernel is nilpotent: it can kill entire block components.
By the trace criterion for defect groups proved above, primitive block idempotents in have defect conjugate into . Among them, the Brauer morphism is nonzero precisely for defect , again by that criterion and its Brauer characterization. The identical reasoning applies to . Thus both sets are identified with the primitive idempotents of , proving the bijection and its uniqueness.
For the more general subgroup, is understood to be a defect group of a block of . This is the implicit hypothesis needed to apply the theorem; it is not repeated in the printed sentence. Without it the printed uniqueness assertion is false: take , , and . The centralizer of in is , but the unique three-dimensional defect-zero block of is the bimodule restriction of each of the two three-dimensional defect-zero blocks of . The two ordinary degree-three characters both restrict to the degree-three character of , with values on its identity, involutions and elements of order three. Defect-zero reduction gives the same simple projective -module, so both restricted block bimodules are this same matrix block. This illustrates why block induction requires the block's defect centralizer. Write for its block idempotent and . Since , we have . Apply the theorem inside to obtain the unique corresponding block of . Its center of an associative algebra has a residue field , and the quotient map is its central character of a block . No assumption that is algebraically closed is needed here. DefineThe Brauer image is in , so this is a unital algebra homomorphism. Among the orthogonal primitive central idempotents of , exactly one has image . The block it selects is . If contains this is the inverse of the bijection just proved. For arbitrary , the resulting block can have a strictly larger defect group. Block induction is transitive on admissible intermediate subgroups. For the normalizer chain used in the proof below, the required transitivity will be verified directly with Brauer images.
To prove the bimodule characterization, we explicitly state the standard permutation-module fact used here. For a permutation module, the Brauer quotient of a module at has as basis the permutation-basis points fixed by . An indecomposable summand has nonzero quotient at exactly when its vertex of an indecomposable module contains a conjugate of . For summands with vertex exactly , taking this quotient, with its -action, detects the summand and detects which orthogonal idempotent projection acts as its identity. These facts hold for trivial source modules; the fixed-basis description follows by deleting proper transfers, and the detection assertion is the permutation form of the first-main-theorem argument, applied to their endomorphism algebra.
As an permutation module, with , the group algebra decomposes asThe block bimodule is an indecomposable module with vertex of an indecomposable module . None of the other double-coset modules can contain : a basis element fixed by centralizes , hence lies in , whereas those double cosets lie outside . Thus occurs exactly once as an indecomposable summand of this restriction, in the term. Decomposing into its global block bimodules therefore puts this occurrence in precisely one of them, say .
Under the fixed-basis description, the quotient of at is , and multiplication by induces multiplication by . The quotient of is . Consequently the detecting projection for this occurrence of satisfieswhich is equivalent to . Thus , proving the requested unique-block direct-summand characterization. Here the restriction is to ; the extra subscript in the converted TeX is a transcription error, not a different subgroup.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 iii Paper 3 5 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The principal block is the unique block of a group algebra containing the trivial -module. Its central character of a block is augmentation , and its block idempotent is the unique primitive central idempotent with . Its defect groups of a block are Sylow subgroups: if , augmentation gives , so .
The Brauer third main theorem states that, if is a block of with defect group and , thenWe give a proof, including the normal-subgroup ingredient needed for the difficult implication.
First, block idempotents centralize a normal p-subgroup. If is a p-subgroup, the ideal is nilpotent: conjugation preserves , so its powers are , eventually zero. For a central idempotent of , the difference is a sum of nonfixed -conjugation orbit sums. Such an orbit maps to a single element of multiplied by its size, which is zero in . Thus the difference belongs to . Since is normal, its centralizer is normal too, and the Brauer image is -invariant; consequently it is itself a central idempotent of . Commuting central idempotents congruent modulo a nilpotent ideal coincide: their off-diagonal products are nilpotent idempotents, hence zero. ThereforeIt follows that central block idempotents of are exactly the sums over -orbits of primitive central idempotents of . The principal block idempotent of is invariant under every automorphism preserving augmentation, so its singleton orbit is the principal block idempotent of .
In particular, if , the groups have the same centralizer . Their principal block idempotents are both the principal block idempotent of . By the definition using the central character of a block of block induction, a block of inducing to the principal block of must be principal: its idempotent, a sum of centralizer block idempotents, has nonzero overlap with this single principal idempotent, and is therefore precisely that idempotent. The forward implication also holds, by the same observation.
For an arbitrary subgroup in the theorem, use the Brauer first main theorem inside to replace by its correspondent in . This preserves principalness. Indeed a Brauer image preserves augmentation on central elements, since nonfixed -orbits have sizes divisible by ; hence the principal block of , when it has defect , corresponds to the principal block of . Conversely, if is principal, its induced central character of a block isso is principal. Transitivity gives . Thus we may work with and a block of defect .
The forward implication is already proved by this augmentation calculation, now with replaced by . For the converse, fix and suppose there is a counterexample with nonprincipal but principal. Choose one whose defect group has maximal order. Put and . To verify the transitivity needed here, write . Its defining character gives . The image is -invariant and central in , so the definition of gives . If is a defect group of , applying gives , since . The character defining therefore selects . Thus . The normal-subgroup observation shows that is nonprincipal, since otherwise would be principal. Every defect group of contains the normal -subgroup up to conjugacy: . Choose a defect group of . Then , so is another admissible counterexample, now with defect group . Maximality forces .
The first main theorem applied to therefore implies that the principal block has defect . Thus is a Sylow subgroup of , and also of . The principal block of then has defect and, by the forward implication, induces to the principal block of . Injectivity in the first main theorem gives , contradicting the established nonprincipalness of . This proves the third main theorem.
A useful equivalent consequence, with its justification, isLet be a block idempotent of occurring in the left side, and let be a defect group of containing the central -subgroup . Then , so is defined. Applying to shows that the central character of a block defining selects : deleting coefficients outside can be done after deleting those outside . Hence , and the theorem makes principal. The image is nonzero because its augmentation is , so it is exactly the principal centralizer idempotent.
Now put and , the p-core of a finite group. The hypothesis , using the p-prime core of a finite group, and the definition of a p-constrained group say . The normal-subgroup observation puts every block idempotent of inside . A group algebra of a p-group in characteristic p is local, so its only idempotents are . Thus has a single block, its principal block.
Write . By the trace and Brauer characterization of defect in Question 1,For the forward direction one can conjugate into ; the nonzero image at then ensures the image at is nonzero. The reverse direction follows because every subgroup with nonzero image is conjugate into a defect group. Since has only one block, a nonzero image must equal . The preceding local-block argument then gives by the third main theorem. Conversely, if is principal, its defect group is a Sylow subgroup and every -element is conjugate into it. ThereforeThis includes : in that case the hypotheses force itself to have only its principal block.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 4 4 e Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
If , then and . Applying part (d) to and to therefore gives the same target idealCompose the two bijections. A block idempotent of with defect corresponds to the unique block idempotent of with defect satisfyingThis proves the requested form of Brauer first main theorem, including uniqueness and the equality of the Brauer images.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 138 6 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Write , and . The Brauer morphism is the coefficient projectionwhere the superscript denotes invariance under conjugation. This is an algebra homomorphism: for , the pairs with are permuted by ; their coefficient products are constant on each orbit. Every nonfixed orbit has size divisible by and contributes zero. The fixed pairs are exactly , giving the coefficient of in the product of the projections. It is surjective since .
We need two trace facts. The kernel isIndeed, a basis of consists of conjugation-orbit sums. Nonfixed orbit sums are traces from their proper stabilizers, while fixed basis elements are exactly the elements of . Traces from proper subgroups have zero coefficient at every fixed element, proving the reverse inclusion. Second, Brauer morphism and relative trace givesOne can see this by letting act on the cosets : fixed cosets are exactly , and all other orbit contributions vanish after projection. More generally, unless is conjugate into .
Set and . The first is an ideal of the center of an associative algebra ; the second is an ideal of , which is commutative because . The displayed trace identity and surjectivity of the Brauer projection give a surjective algebra homomorphismThe ideals can lack identities, so we justify the required idempotent argument. A finite-dimensional commutative algebra is a product of Artinian local rings. Its ideal intersects each local factor either in the whole factor, containing its identity, or in a proper nilpotent ideal. Under a surjection of such ideals, the proper parts have nilpotent image. Each nonzero image of a local-factor identity has a local corner algebra, a quotient of that factor, and is therefore primitive. If is the sum of these nonzero images, then lies in the nilpotent image of the proper-factor ideals for every in the target; an idempotent has . Its components in the local corners are consequently zero or the corner identities. These orthogonal images account for every primitive idempotent in the target, because what remains is nilpotent. Thus primitive idempotents under a surjection of commutative Artinian ideals apply: the primitive idempotents of correspond exactly to primitive central idempotents with .
To identify these with the required blocks, we prove the trace criterion for defect groups. Choose a subgroup of smallest order with . Such a subgroup exists: for a Sylow -subgroup , . If , write and replace by . The kernel formula and transitivity of trace would giveMultiplying by gives the identity of the local algebra in a sum of the ideals . If all were proper, they would lie in its unique maximal ideal; hence some contains , contradicting minimality. Therefore .
The general trace-vanishing assertion shows that any with nonzero Brauer image is conjugate into . Conversely, every conjugate of has nonzero image. Hence the maximal such subgroups, each called a defect group of a block, are precisely the conjugates of . It also follows, using trace transitivity, that if and only if a defect group is conjugate into . Combining this with forces equality of the subgroup orders, so the idempotents singled out above are exactly those with defect group .
We have proved the desired bijectionFinally, Brauer first main theorem states that these blocks correspond bijectively to the blocks of with defect group . Apply the same argument to : its normalizer of is itself and its centralizer of is still . The target ideal is therefore the same . Matching the two bijections proves the theorem and gives the Brauer correspondence, characterized by equal nonzero Brauer images. Notice that we never assume the entire kernel on is nilpotent; it may kill whole blocks of smaller defect.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 138 6 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Take andEvery involution in is a double transposition. They form one conjugacy class: an odd conjugator can be made even by multiplying by a transposition centralizing the source double transposition. Thus all order-two subgroups of are conjugate. Since , is a Sylow subgroup. A permutation normalizing fixes its unique common fixed letter, , and every even permutation of the other four letters permutes its three double transpositions. Hence . Any permutation centralizing fixes ; within it may exchange the two pairs and interchange letters in either pair, giving eight possibilities, of which exactly the four elements of are even. Thus . Since is abelian and contains , also .
The given single block of has identity and defect , since and is Sylow. By Brauer first main theorem, has exactly one block with defect .
Suppose a block idempotent had defect . Then is a nonzero idempotent in . A group algebra of a p-group in characteristic p is local, so this image is . But both the Brauer projections at and at retain exactly the basis elements of the same centralizer . ConsequentlyThus has the full Sylow defect , contradicting maximality of . These are the 2-modular defect groups of A5, and .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 138 6 c Solution 2026-10-03
The decomposition matrix separates into two connected components. The first contains and ; it is the principal block . The second contains only and ; since contains the full 5-part of , this is a defect-zero representation and its block has defect group .
The defect group of the principal block is a Sylow 5-subgroup . There are six Sylow 5-subgroups in , so the orbit-stabilizer theorem givesThe centralizer of a 5-cycle in is , and an involution in the normalizer acts on by inversion. HenceIn characteristic five the simple -modules are inflated from : their Brauer characters are and on the identity and involution classes. If are the two one-dimensional and two two-dimensional ordinary characters of , their reductions areThe resulting decomposition matrix is connected, so these characters form the unique 5-block of , with defect group . By the Brauer first main theorem,This is the complete 5-modular blocks of A5 correspondence.