If are the simple modules of a split group algebra and are their projective covers, then
Let be a p-regular element. Its eigenvalues on are roots of unity of order prime to . If are their Teichmuller lifts to characteristic-zero roots of unity, the Brauer character is
It depends only on the conjugacy class of , is additive in short exact sequences, and equals the restriction of an ordinary character whenever the representation lifts.
For linear independence, choose a splitting p-modular system and let be the projective cover of the simple module . A projective lattice lifting has an ordinary character that vanishes on p-singular elements. Reduction and ordinary character orthogonality give
because is the head of . Pairing a relation with every yields for every . Hence
This is the linear-independence part of the Brauer–Nesbitt theorem.
Decompose the projective module as
where ranges over the simple modules. Since , the multiplicity of in the head of a module is . Part (b) gives , so the multiplicity in is the same .
The invariant submodule and coinvariant module satisfy
Thus is the multiplicity of the trivial module in , while is its multiplicity in the head. Applying the same argument to the projective module yields
The dual is indecomposable projective. Its head is dual to , hence is . Uniqueness of projective covers proves the dual of a projective cover over a group algebra: