Cyclic vector for a group representation

A vector $v$ is cyclic for a group representation $\rho :G\to GL(V)$ if the linear span of $\{\rho (g)v:g\in G\}$ is all of $V$. Equivalently $v$ generates $V$ as a module over the group algebra. Its projection to the invariant subspace generates that subspace, so a cyclic representation of a finite group has at most one copy of the trivial representation.

In a unitary representation of a finite group, if a cyclic vector $v$ satisfies $\rho (g)v=av$ for some $a\ne 1$, then there are no invariant vectors. Indeed the averaging orthogonal projection $P=|G{|}^{-1}{\sum }_h\rho (h)$ satisfies $P\rho (g)=P$, so $Pv=aPv=0$. All translates of $v$ also project to zero, and they span the representation.