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For a rational maximal torus $T$, choose a Borel subgroup containing it with unipotent radical $U$. The alternating compactly supported étale cohomology of ${\mathcal{L}}_F^{-1}(U)$, in the appropriate $T^F$-isotypic component, defines the virtual character of $G^F$ $R_T^G(\theta )$. It is independent of the chosen Borel. When the Borel subgroup is rational, this is ordinary induction from its rational points after inflation of a group representation from $T^F$.

Deligne-Lusztig theory constructs virtual characters of finite groups of Lie type from compactly supported étale cohomology of varieties associated with Frobenius and flags. Rational maximal tori and their finite-group characters provide induction data, while the geometry explains character orthogonality and cuspidality.