The normalized convolution on a finite group and the Fourier transform on a finite group convention with satisfy the displayed identity. Substitute in the defining expectation and use . With the convention using instead, the scalar convolution has transform ; multiplication order matters for noncommutative groups.
For a finite group, choose one unitary irreducible representation of degree from each equivalence class. One consistent normalized Fourier transform on a finite group convention is . The Schur orthogonality relations give
The normalized convolution on a finite group satisfies in this convention. Using in the transform instead reverses that product order for scalar functions with the same normalized convolution on a finite group convention. The Fourier transform on a finite group has matrix-valued components even when the original function is scalar-valued.
The Fourier transform on a finite group convention has the displayed inversion formula. The sum is over one representative from each equivalence class of unitary irreducible representations. It follows from the Schur orthogonality relations and the regular representation decomposition, and holds at every group element without a limiting argument.
Matrix Fourier block 2026-10-06
For and a degree- unitary irreducible representation, the matrix Fourier block is the operator on defined in the title. Its singular values satisfy
Pointwise operator norm at most one implies . These blocks are operators on a matrix space, rather than simply the entrywise scalar Fourier transform on a finite group without any reshaping.
For the Fourier transform on a finite group, the displayed identity uses uniform expectation in the original function space and a weighted Hilbert-Schmidt inner product in the matrix components. In particular . For an abelian group, all , and the identity becomes a sum of squared scalar coefficients.
Use the following normalization for Fourier analysis on a finite group. Choose one unitary irreducible representation from each equivalence class, including the trivial representation. For a scalar function , put
This convention uses , rather than , in the Fourier transform on a finite group; it makes the normalized convolution on a finite group preserve multiplication order.
The needed representation theory consists of Maschke's theorem and unitarization of a finite-group representation, together with the Schur orthogonality relations:
The regular representation contains copies of each , so . Thus the scaled matrix coefficients , and also their complex conjugates, form an orthonormal basis of all scalar functions on . These facts imply Fourier inversion on a finite group and the Parseval identity on a finite group in the forms
and hence
In particular, the transform is an isomorphism onto the direct sum of the matrix algebras , with the displayed weighted Hilbert-Schmidt inner product.
Define the normalized convolution on a finite group by
Substituting and using the group representation identity yields the convolution theorem on a finite group
Unlike normalized convolution on a finite group on an abelian group, this product need not commute. If , then . For left translation of a group function and right translation of a group function and ,
For an abelian group, every irreducible representation is one-dimensional; this reduces to Fourier analysis on a finite abelian group with characters relabelled by their inverses. These formulas establish the basic scalar theory, with all normalizations and multiplication orders fixed.
Now suppose every nontrivial irreducible representation has . If is a mean-zero function, its component at the trivial representation is zero. The Parseval identity on a finite group gives, for each other ,
Using the convolution theorem on a finite group, the Hilbert-Schmidt norm inequality , and the Parseval identity on a finite group once more gives the product mixing in a quasirandom group estimate
Write for the subset density values of , respectively, and let , be balanced subset indicators. Since both are mean-zero functions, . Their squared norms are and . Also , so the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality yields
If , the final bound is strictly smaller than . Thus the normalized number of pairs with is positive. Equivalently,
This is the desired conclusion for a quasirandom group; the strict inequality ensures positivity rather than merely a nonnegative lower bound.