Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 4 1 iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Let afford the irreducible character . The positive character inner product is the multiplicity of the trivial representation in restricted to , so there is a nonzero vector fixed by every element of . Since , every element of acts as the identity on all of . By , every element of therefore fixes .
The line is a nonzero invariant subspace of the irreducible representation , so it must equal . The action on this line is trivial, provingThe hypothesis on the kernel of a character is what makes an -fixed vector into a -fixed vector.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 4 1 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
We prove closure of through character kernels, rather than assuming that a conjugacy-invariant set is a subgroup. Let , write , and define the generalised characterHere are the trivial characters. Since , part (i) gives and . Put . By Frobenius reciprocity and character orthogonality,ConsequentlyTo justify the resulting irreducibility, write any generalised character as an integer combination of irreducible characters. Its squared norm is , so norm one makes it or for one irreducible . Positive degree rules out the negative sign. Thus is an irreducible character, an instance of the fact that positive-degree norm-one virtual characters are irreducible.
If , no conjugate of lies in , so the induction formula gives . At it is also zero. Hence for all . For a finite-group representation we may choose an invariant positive Hermitian form, making every representing matrix unitary. Its trace equals its dimension only when all its unit-modulus eigenvalues are . Thus the kernel of a character is , and .
Conversely, if , then is conjugate to some . The character of the regular representation of isIf every nontrivial satisfied , the sum at would instead equal , a contradiction. Choose an for which these values differ. Since restricts to , it has , so . ThereforeThis proves the Frobenius kernel theorem's subgroup assertion. The definition also gives . Using the permitted cardinality , normality ensures is a subgroup andThus is the Frobenius kernel, and supplies the complementary factor.