Clifford correspondence 2026-10-14
For , and , induction gives the displayed bijection. The inverse takes the -isotypic component of an irreducible -module, viewed as a -module. Induction produces distinct -isotypic components indexed by . Any nonzero -submodule meets one of them and hence, by translation and irreducibility over , contains them all. The same argument shows that the inverse component is irreducible and determines the original inducing module uniquely.
Let and both be abelian. For an irreducible -module, choose a subgroup of maximal order whose restriction contains a linear character . Every subgroup containing is normal. If an element stabilizes , its action on the nonzero -isotypic component has an eigenvector; that line is invariant under and affords a larger linear constituent, contradicting maximality. Thus , and the Clifford correspondence gives .
Put and . The linear action preserves polynomial degree, so with . We prove Hilbert finite generation for reductive invariants by combining finite ideal generation in with a degree-lowering argument in .
Over , representations of a reductive algebraic group are completely reducible. On each finite-dimensional , project its isotypic component for the trivial representation onto itself and its nontrivial summands onto zero. These projections together form a degree-preserving Reynolds operator , with . The crucial additional property is
Here is why it holds rather than being an arbitrary projection property. For a homogeneous invariant , multiplication by is a -equivariant linear map . It sends invariant vectors to invariant vectors. On a nontrivial irreducible summand, its composition with projection onto the target's trivial summand is zero, since there is no nonzero equivariant map from a nontrivial irreducible representation to the trivial representation. It therefore commutes with the Reynolds operators. Summing the homogeneous components of and proves the displayed module property in general.
Let and form the ideal in the ambient polynomial ring. The Hilbert basis theorem makes a Noetherian ring, so is generated by finitely many homogeneous positive-degree invariants . To justify choosing the generators from this particular set, start with any finite ideal generating set; each of its members is a finite sum of multiples of homogeneous members of , and the union of those finitely many invariants then generates . If , there are no positive-degree invariants and the answer is simply .
Otherwise consider a homogeneous invariant of degree . Since , write
with when that degree is negative. Taking the degree- component of any ideal expression gives exactly such an expression. Apply the Reynolds operator and its module property:
Each coefficient is invariant and has degree strictly smaller than , because every has positive degree. Induction on , starting from , now shows that every homogeneous invariant lies in . An arbitrary invariant is a finite sum of invariant homogeneous components, so
This proves finite generation as an algebra. No Noetherian property of the polynomial invariant ring was assumed in obtaining the generators.
Work over the complex numbers. By Maschke's theorem, restriction to the normal subgroup is a direct sum of its isotypic components. For an irreducible -type , denote its isotypic component in by . Normality makes permute these components, by conjugating the -types. Any union of orbits spans a -invariant subspace, so irreducibility of means that all occurring components form a single orbit.
If there is only one component, restriction is isotypic, as claimed. Otherwise take one component and its stabilizer , a proper subgroup. This is an irreducible representation of : if were -invariant, the direct sum of its translates over coset representatives for would be a nonzero proper -invariant subspace of . It is direct because the translates lie in distinct isotypic components, and proper because .
The natural map from the induced representation sends to . It identifies the direct-sum coset decomposition with all isotypic components of , so is bijective and -equivariant. Consequently
This proves the dichotomy directly, including the irreducibility of the representation being induced.
We use complex representations. By Maschke's theorem, restriction to any finite subgroup is a semisimple module, so it has a canonical isotypic decomposition. In particular, the -isotypic component is the sum of all copies of the irreducible -module with character . The central character idempotent
projects onto this component. These projections preserve every -submodule, which consequently decomposes as the direct sum of its intersections with the isotypic components.
Let afford . The component is nonzero. Since fixes , it preserves . Irreducibility of as a -module therefore gives : its restriction to consists entirely of copies of .
Form the induced representation
where represents the left cosets . Because , for we have
Thus is -isotypic of type , where . These types are distinct for distinct cosets , precisely by the definition of the inertia group of a character .
Let be a nonzero -submodule of . Its isotypic decomposition as an -module shows that it meets some nontrivially. Acting by gives . This intersection is a -submodule of the irreducible , hence equals . The -translates of that component span , so . The induced representation is therefore irreducible, and its restriction contains . Its induced character satisfies
This proves the irreducibility assertion directly from isotypic components; no form of the correspondence being proved has been assumed.
Let be an irreducible -module with character , and let be its -isotypic component. It is invariant under the inertia group of a character . The sum of its -translates is a nonzero -submodule, so irreducibility makes it all of . Translates associated with different cosets have distinct -types and hence form a direct sum:
To see that is irreducible over , let be a -submodule. Then is a nonzero -submodule of , hence equals . Its -isotypic part is exactly , whereas the corresponding part of is . Thus .
Let be the irreducible character of as a -module. It lies over , and the natural map of induced representations
is an isomorphism: it identifies each summand with the corresponding , and these summands are direct and exhaust . Consequently , proving surjectivity of induction on the stated sets.
For injectivity, the construction in (a) shows that the -isotypic component of is exactly , with its original -action. Isomorphic induced -modules therefore have isomorphic intrinsic -components as -modules. Since complex representations with the same character are isomorphic, forces . Hence the Clifford correspondence is the bijection
whose inverse takes the character of the -isotypic component.
An M-group is a finite group for which every irreducible character is induced from a linear character of some subgroup. Let have both and abelian, and fix an irreducible -module with character . Since is abelian, has a linear constituent. Choose, among all pairs with and a linear character occurring in , one for which is maximal.
Every subgroup containing is normal in : its image in the abelian quotient is normal, and it is the full preimage of that image. Thus , so the inertia group of a character is defined and contains .
Suppose . The nonzero -isotypic component is preserved by , and every acts there as the scalar because . The finite-order operator representing is diagonalizable over ; choose an eigenvector . Then is invariant under both and , hence under . This line affords a linear character of with . Since it is a subrepresentation of , it is a constituent of . But strictly contains and still contains , contradicting maximality.
Therefore . Apply the Clifford correspondence with normal subgroup . Its inertia group is itself, and , so the unique irreducible -character lying over is . In particular,
Since was arbitrary, every irreducible character is a monomial character, proving that finite metabelian groups are monomial: