Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 iii Paper 3 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The dominance order on partitions is defined byWrite when the shapes are distinct as well. We first explain why the nonzero from regular partitions exhaust the simple modules. The argument also provides the required constraint on composition factors.
For a regular partition and a tableau of that shape, the operator has rank one on : on its image lies in , and the nonzero pairing with the row-reversed polytabloid from Question 1 shows that this image survives in . On , a nonzero requires every row of to meet each column of at most once, by the same cancellation. Consequently the first rows of contain at most entries from column . Summing givesThus nonzero column action forces . In particular, if , its nonzero column operators applied to the realization of either simple as a composition factor of the other's Young permutation module force both dominances; hence .
Over an algebraic closure in characteristic , the number of simple group modules is the number of p-regular elements' conjugacy classes, by the Brauer character basis theorem. Such classes in have cycle lengths not divisible by . The Glaisher partition bijection equates their number with the number of regular partitions: expand a part , with , into copies of , and invert by the base- expansion of each multiplicity. The distinct absolutely irreducible therefore form the complete list. Since they are already defined and absolutely irreducible over the prime field, the same list is valid over any of characteristic . In characteristic zero, the analogous count uses all partitions of an integer and all conjugacy classes.
If occurs in a composition series of , its nonzero action lifts through the subquotient, so . The inequality above proves . When is regular, has rank one on and rank one on . An operator preserving a finite filtration has rank at least the sum of its ranks on the successive quotients: relative to an adapted basis its matrix is block triangular, and nonzero pivot minors of the diagonal blocks combine to a nonzero minor. Therefore can occur at most once. It occurs at least once as the quotient of . We have provedFor a nonregular , equality is impossible because .
Over , Young's rule gives the exact decompositionThe Kostka number counts Semistandard Young tableaux of shape and content : entry occurs times, rows weakly increase, and columns strictly increase. In particular and nonzero multiplicity requires dominance.
For the requested induction, products mean induction of the external tensor product of group representations from to : on , the pair acts as . One can compute using Young's rule alone. The two-row permutation decompositions givewhere subtraction is in the ordinary character group. Reordering row blocks gives isomorphic permutation modules. Inducing after multiplication by the trivial gives . For a direct Kostka number calculation, the differences are one forand zero for every other partition of an integer of seven. To see these counts without enumerating arbitrary fillings, first fill a shape with five entries of content or and then add two 's. The added cells must be a horizontal strip. Removing them leaves, for content , one of with multiplicity one, and for content one of with multiplicity one. The first two shapes cancel, leaving precisely the horizontal two-cell extensions of , namely the five listed shapes. ConsequentlyThe hook-length formula checks the dimensions: .