Residue-content criterion for symmetric-group blocks ($c_r(\lambda )=\#\{(i,j)\in \lambda :j-i\equiv r(\mathrm{mod}p)\}$)

For shapes of the same size, equal residue-content multiplicities are equivalent to equal cores of a partition at modulus $p$. Removing a rim $p$-hook subtracts one of each residue. With the number of beta numbers divisible by $p$, the packed-runner charges are $q_r=c_r-c_{r+1}$, so the multiplicities recover the core. Symmetric polynomials in Young–Jucys–Murphy elements act by their evaluations on these residues, and generate the modular center. Equality of its characters is precisely the block-equivalence criterion for simple modules.

At fixed degree $n$ in positive characteristic $p$, two Specht modules belong to the same block of a group algebra exactly when their labels have the same core of a partition at modulus $p$. The simple labels in that block are precisely the regular partitions with that core. The theorem follows by combining the residue-content criterion for symmetric-group blocks with the Jucys–Murphy description of the center of a symmetric-group algebra.