Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2017 / ii / Paper 2 / 17G / b

Suppose $\chi$ is an irreducible character of a group of odd order and $\chi =\overline{\chi }$. Write $d=\chi (1)$. Every nonidentity element pairs with its distinct inverse, since there is no element of order $2$. Also $\chi (g^{-1})=\overline{\chi (g)}=\chi (g)$. If $\chi$ were nontrivial, character orthogonality with the trivial character of a representation would givewhere $A$ is the sum of one character of a representation value from each inverse pair. This $A$ is an algebraic integer, so $A=-d/2\in \mathbb{Q}$ is an integer. Hence $d$ is even.

But an irreducible character degree divides the group order, so $d$ must be odd. One quick justification of that divisibility is that the central class sum of a conjugacy class $C$ acts by the algebraic integer ${\lambda }_C=|C|\chi (g_C)/d$. Its integrality follows from its integer matrix on the regular group representation. Character orthogonality then givesa rational algebraic integer, hence an integer. The parity contradiction proves $\boxed{\chi =1_G}$: the trivial character is the only self-conjugate irreducible character of an odd-order group.