Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 138 4 c Solution 2026-10-03
Let be the Sylow p-subgroup of upper unitriangular matrices. It is cyclic of order , generated byRealize as the homogeneous polynomials of degree in , with acting by and . For , the only vectors fixed by are the multiples of : successive comparison of the coefficients of proves this. Thus the nilpotent operator has one-dimensional kernel. Its Jordan normal form therefore has a single block, soThis also follows from the indecomposable modules of a cyclic p-group in characteristic p.
For , the restriction has dimension and is the regular -module, hence is projective. Since is prime to , part (b)(ii) makes a simple projective -module. It is therefore a defect-zero representation and lifts to an ordinary irreducible representation of the same dimension. Consequently
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.