Character expansion of the identity delta Created 2026-10-06 Updated 2026-10-14
For a finite group, the regular representation contains copies of each irreducible representation . Its character of a representation is at the identity and zero elsewhere. Thus , including the trivial representation. This formula converts independent uniform expectations into constrained configuration counts.
Fourier inversion on a finite group 2026-10-06
The Fourier transform on a finite group convention has the displayed inversion formula. The sum is over one representative from each equivalence class of unitary irreducible representations. It follows from the Schur orthogonality relations and the regular representation decomposition, and holds at every group element without a limiting argument.
Four-point regular representation of the Klein four-group Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-25
The permutation matrices of the three displayed double transpositions, together with , form a faithful representation of the Klein four-group. They satisfy and . Every nonidentity element fixes no basis vector, so this is its four-dimensional regular representation.
The constant vector spans a nonzero proper invariant subspace, proving reducibility. More completely, the columns ofform a common orthonormal basis of eigenvectors. Direct multiplication gives and . Thus the representation splits into the four distinct real one-dimensional characters, each once. The basis change is a normalized Hadamard matrix.
Frobenius kernel theorem 2026-10-14
For a Frobenius complement , a class function with satisfies . For each nontrivial of degree , the virtual character has norm one and positive degree by Frobenius reciprocity. It is therefore irreducible, restricts to and is identically on the candidate kernel . The intersection of the kernels of these characters is exactly : outside , separation follows from the character of the regular representation of . This proves normality; and then give the semidirect product.
Group shift operator 2026-10-05
For a finite abelian group , defines the regular representation on the basis labelled by . The linear characters give the common eigenbasisCharacter orthogonality proves orthonormality, and changing variables by the translation in a group proves the eigenvalue formula.
Order-sixteen Gassmann pair 2026-10-14
Embed and in by their regular representations. Both have one element of order one, three of order two, and twelve of order four. An order- element in a regular action has cycle type . Their intersections with every conjugacy class of consequently have the same size, so they are Gassmann equivalent. The first group is abelian and the second is not, so their underlying groups are not isomorphic. Finite-cover constructions from the Sunada theorem therefore give isospectral manifolds with different fundamental groups.
Past exam of the groups and representations course of the University of Oxford 2018 2 d Solution 2026-10-25
The defining SU(3) representation restricts to the given matrix representation. All its restricted matrices are real, so the conjugate representation restricts identically. Hence the first two branchings areFor the adjoint representation of SU(3), use . This follows by splitting endomorphisms into scalar and traceless matrices. Subtracting one trivial constituent from c givesAs an independent check, its restricted character is , the regular character of . Thus this is precisely the regular representation, whose representation multiplicities equal the corresponding dimensions.
Past exam of the groups and representations course of the University of Oxford 2023 2 d Solution 2026-10-25
Only the character of the two-dimensional irreducible representation remains unknown. Write it as . The regular representation has character zero off the identity and decomposes with multiplicities equal to the irreducible representation dimensions. Thus, for a nonidentity element ,For the four nonidentity conjugacy classes this gives , , , . The complete character table is consequentlyFor example, , agreeing with character orthogonality.
For type , all labels are distinct, so a semistandard tableau is precisely a standard Young tableau. Thus , and Young's rule givesThis is also the decomposition of the regular representation, since tabloids with one entry per row are naturally indexed by all permutations.
Let be the number of standard tableaux of shape . First the associated polytabloids are linearly independent. Order tabloids lexicographically by reading each row after sorting its entries. For a column-increasing tableau , the term in has coefficient one; every other tabloid term has larger row word. To see this, take the first row changed by a nontrivial column permutation. Earlier rows are fixed entry by entry, since each entry belongs to one original column. The changed row can only receive entries from lower positions of those increasing columns, so after sorting it is lexicographically larger. In a linear relation between standard polytabloids, choose the smallest row word with a nonzero coefficient. Its own tabloid coefficient cannot be cancelled by a larger standard polytabloid, a contradiction. Thus .
Work first over . The RSK bijection between permutations and pairs of standard tableaux of the same shape gives . The assumed pairwise nonisomorphic irreducible Specht modules, and the decomposition of the regular representation with irreducible multiplicities equal to their dimensions, give . Combining the two inequalities forces equality term by term: . Hence the independent standard polytabloids are a basis.
The same conclusion holds over every characteristic-zero field. All polytabloid coordinates in the tabloid basis are integers, so the ranks of their coordinate matrices are the same over any characteristic-zero field as over . In particular the dimension equality and independence transfer without requiring an embedding of the whole field into .
The equality exhausts the dimension of the regular representation. There is no room for another irreducible constituent, since it would contribute its positive squared dimension. ThusEach has the standard-polytabloid basis just proved. The usual split characteristic-zero statement follows over any characteristic-zero field because these integral Specht models remain irreducible after extension to an algebraic closure and already exhaust all dimensions there. In the literal wording of the source, polytabloids themselves are vectors; it is the Specht modules with those bases that form the family of representations.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 2 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
If is empty, take the zero generalized character; if is empty, take the trivial character. Otherwise let be the set of primes dividing the orders of elements of . The coprimality hypothesis makes every element of a -element. Thus every nonidentity element of is either a pi-element in or a complementary-prime element in . In particular these sets are unions of conjugacy classes, since conjugation preserves element order.
Put and . Their greatest common divisor is one, so the Chinese remainder theorem supplies an integer such thatDefine the class function by , on and on . We verify Brauer's characterization of characters directly.
For an elementary subgroup , the cyclic factor can be split into its -part and -part. Attach to the part containing its prime. This expresses . Both factors cannot be nontrivial: choosing a nonidentity element in each would give a commuting product of mixed prime order, whereas every element of has order involving only one of the two prime sets. Hence is wholly a -group or wholly a -group.
Let be the character of the regular representation of , with value at the identity and zero elsewhere. In the two cases respectively,The coefficients are integers because divides or . Thus both are generalized characters. The trivial subgroup causes no difficulty since is an integer. By Brauer's characterization of characters, is a generalized character of .
Taking gives the required values.
This is a generalized character separating complementary prime elements; the freely chosen value at the identity is what makes all elementary restrictions integral.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 2 3 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Let be the intersection under consideration. The family is nonempty since it contains , and is invariant under conjugation: conjugating an irreducible inducing pair gives another such pair. Hence is a normal subgroup of .
For any , monomiality gives with a linear character of some . This belongs to the family, so . Because is normal, for every . In the induced representation oneach coset line is therefore invariant under : for ,Thus the restriction to is a direct sum of one-dimensional group representations. All representing matrices of commute, and the derived subgroup acts as the identity. Equivalently,The intersection of the character kernels is trivial: the regular representation is faithful and is a direct sum of irreducible representations. It follows that .
This proves the abelian intersection of irreducible inducing subgroups without assuming that every subgroup of an M-group is itself monomial.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 ii Paper 1 19F b i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
The translation subgroup is normal and , via the upper-left entry . Thus the coset representation is the regular representation of that cyclic quotient. If runs through its complex one-dimensional characters, inflated to , thenEach occurs once: the regular character is at the quotient identity and zero elsewhere, which is also the sum of all quotient characters by finite character orthogonality.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 ii Paper 1 19H Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Put . The character orthogonality for the five supplied rows say . Solving these linear equations givesFor example orthogonality of the two degree-four rows gives , and their norms give ; the remaining row products determine the other weights. Since , , so and the class sizes are the displayed numerators.
Tensoring the fifth irreducible representation with the second, one-dimensional one gives another irreducible character, with row . It differs from all five known rows. There are seven conjugacy classes, hence seven irreducible characters. The sum of squared degrees is , so the final degree is .
The regular representation has character zero off the identity and is the sum of irreducible characters weighted by their degrees. Applying this column by column determines the last row. The completed character table, in the supplied class order, isNo identification of the group with a familiar group is needed.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 ii Paper 2 19H Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
For a complex irreducible representation, every central element acts as a scalar by Schur lemma. If the representation is faithful, these scalars embed in . Every finite subgroup of is cyclic: if its order is , all its elements satisfy , and the th roots of unity form a cyclic group. Thus is cyclic.
The trivial group satisfies the conclusion immediately. Otherwise let be a finite -group with cyclic centre, and decompose a faithful representation as a direct sum of irreducibles using Maschke's theorem. The nontrivial cyclic -group has a unique subgroup of order . Some component does not kill , since otherwise the whole representation would kill it. If that component had a nontrivial kernel , the kernel would be a normal subgroup and the allowed intersection theorem gives . Every nontrivial subgroup of cyclic contains , contradicting the choice of component. That irreducible component is faithful.
Finally the regular representation is faithful, since left multiplication by a nonidentity element does not fix the basis vector at the identity. A cyclic centre therefore supplies a faithful irreducible component of it. The first argument proves the converse, giving a finite -group has a faithful irreducible complex representation exactly when its centre is cyclic.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 22 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Take a finite presentation . For a closed-manifold realization of a finitely presented fundamental group, begin with a five-dimensional ball and attach one-handles, giving a compact oriented five-manifold with fundamental group the free group on the . Represent the relators by disjoint embedded circles in its four-dimensional boundary. General position allows them to be embedded and disjoint, and their oriented normal bundles admit framings. Attach a two-handle along each such circle. The resulting compact five-manifold hasby the Seifert-van Kampen theorem. Now set . It is a compact connected smooth four-manifold without boundary. Turning this handle decomposition upside down gives a relative handle decomposition of with handles of indices three, four and five only. Attaching such handles does not change the fundamental group: there are no new one-handles or two-handle relations. Thus is an isomorphism andThese are the differential-topological handle facts used in the construction; the dimension-five thickening ensures the boundary retains the prescribed fundamental group.
Now assume finite. Choose any smooth Riemannian metric on and lift it to its universal cover . This cover is compact, since its degree is , and simply connected. Its deck transformations give a free isometric -action. For the two Gassmann equivalent subgroups putEach is a closed Riemannian manifold, and is its simply connected universal cover, with deck transformation group . Consequently .
Here is the complete spectral argument behind the Sunada theorem in this situation. Each finite-dimensional upstairs eigenspace is a representation of , because the action is isometric and commutes with the Laplace-Beltrami operator. Functions downstairs correspond exactly to invariant functions upstairs, so their multiplicities are . Averaging the representation matrices over a subgroup is a projection onto its invariant subspace. Taking its trace givesThe character is constant on each conjugacy class of . Gassmann equivalence means for every such class ; summing these equalities also gives . The two averages are therefore equal for every . The quotients are isospectral, with .
If , the map is well defined, invertible and isometric because acts by an isometry upstairs. Conjugate subgroups give isometric quotients.
For an explicit example with different fundamental groups, use the order-sixteen Gassmann pairEmbed each in by left multiplication on its own sixteen elements, identified with the same sixteen-point set. These regular representations are faithful. Both groups have one identity element, three elements of order two, and twelve of order four: in the elements of order dividing two are precisely its four even-coordinate elements; in they are the four elements in . Every remaining element has order four.
In a regular action, an order- element is a product of disjoint -cycles. Thus each subgroup intersects the identity conjugacy class of in one element, the class of type in three, the class of type in twelve, and every other class in zero. They are Gassmann equivalent. However is abelian and is nonabelian, so they are not isomorphic. Apply the preceding construction with fundamental group and these subgroups. It producesIn particular they cannot even be homeomorphic, and therefore cannot be isometric.
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.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 4 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
In character theory, a p-elementary group is a finite group isomorphic to , where is a -group and is cyclic of order coprime to . Either factor may be trivial. An elementary group is p-elementary for at least one prime ; it need not be an elementary abelian group.
A generalised character means an integer linear combination of irreducible complex characters. Brauer's characterisation of characters states that a complex class function on a finite group is a generalised character if and only if is a generalised character for every elementary subgroup . Equivalently,An ordinary character additionally requires nonnegative coefficients in its global irreducible decomposition. We use the virtual-character criterion just stated.
For the extension construction, set . The determinant character is linear. Since its extension has the same value at the identity, is also a linear character. For any , the subgroup has cyclic quotient , hence a solvable quotient. The invariant character has degree coprime to , since this index divides , and extends its determinant. The permitted coprime-degree determinant extension theorem therefore gives a unique character withDefine a function on by . We next verify that these individually defined values form a compatible class function.
If , conjugation carries to . Transporting by this conjugation gives a character extending , because is -invariant, and with determinant restricted to the conjugate subgroup, because is a class function. Uniqueness identifies the transported character with . Consequently .
Now take an elementary subgroup and let . A finite -group is solvable, a cyclic group is solvable, and a direct product of solvable groups is solvable. Thus is solvable, and so is . Again the index divides , so the same extension theorem gives extending with determinant .
For , we have . The restriction is irreducible: an invariant subspace for would be invariant for , whose restriction already affords the irreducible . Its determinant is . By uniqueness on , it equals . Thereforean ordinary character and hence a generalised character of . Brauer's characterisation of characters now makes a generalised character of . If , then and , so . We have proved, by gluing determinant-normalized character extensions,Only the intermediate quotients and were required to be solvable; no solvability assumption on has been added.
For the prime-set assertion, let be p-elementary, and split the cyclic group as , where each factor has the indicated prime divisors in its order. If , put and . If , put and . In both cases the factors commute, have trivial intersection and have orders with disjoint prime spectra. This proves the prime-set decomposition of elementary groupsHere a pi-group has order divisible only by primes in , and a pi-element has such an element order; the identity qualifies for both complementary prime sets.
Finally, suppose satisfies the given element-order condition. The sets are unions of conjugacy classes and are disjoint, because membership in both would force every prime divisor of the element order into , hence force order . Let be elementary and use . If both factors were nontrivial, choose in the first and in the second. They commute and have coprime orders, so has order , containing primes from both and . It would belong to neither nor nor , contrary to the hypothesis. Thus every elementary subgroup is entirely a pi-group or entirely a complementary-prime group.
Write and for the two prime parts of , so and . The Chinese remainder theorem supplies an integer satisfyingDefine the class functionFor an elementary -subgroup , its order divides . Let be the character of its regular representation, equal to at and zero elsewhere. Thenwith integral coefficient because . For an elementary -subgroup, its order divides , andagain has integral coefficient. The trivial subgroup satisfies either formula. Every elementary restriction is therefore a generalised character. A second application of Brauer's characterisation of characters provesThe freely chosen identity value, fixed by the two congruences, makes the restrictions integral. This construction also covers the cases , , or , using modulus-one congruences where appropriate.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 iii Paper 26 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The three quadratic subfields are , and , with respective fundamental discriminants . Their associated quadratic Dirichlet characters are the Kronecker symbolsThe regular representation of is the direct sum of the trivial character and these three nontrivial characters. At an unramified prime the character is the sign by which Frobenius automorphism acts on the square root defining its quadratic subfield; at a ramified prime the linear character has no inertia group invariants. The local factor of an Artin L-function consequently givesThe zero values of a quadratic Dirichlet character at conductor primes mean that its local factor is one, not that the whole Artin L-function vanishes there.
Only the rational primes can contribute to coefficients with index at most ten. Their character values areFor the odd unramified primes these entries follow by checking squares: modulo five, both and are the nonsquare , while is the square ; modulo seven they are respectively . At , is a square. At , the character is because the integral quadratic generator has polynomial , irreducible modulo two. The other entries at and are zero exactly where the corresponding fundamental discriminant is divisible by that prime. This verifies every local factor, including the ramified ones.
The Euler product makes a multiplicative arithmetic function. Expanding the first two factors givesTherefore , , , and . Both factors for and have zero coefficient of , so . Multiplicativity gives and , while . The answer isAs an arithmetic check, the regular representation Artin L-function is the Dedekind zeta function of . The local factors say there is one prime of norm four above two and two primes of norm three above three. Their powers give respectively one ideal of norm four and three ideals of norm nine, matching the nonzero coefficients above.