Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 1 19I b i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
Let and let be the standard basis of its real regular representation, with modulo three. SetBoth are invariant, they are orthogonal, andThe line is the trivial representation. On the plane , the generator acts as a rotation through . Such a rotation has no real eigenline, so has no nonzero proper invariant real subspace and is irreducible.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 3 19I b iii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
Work with the selected transitive orbit . By Maschke's theorem, decompose its permutation character aswhere the are distinct nontrivial irreducible characters. Character orthogonality givesConsequently the augmentation summand is irreducible exactly when this inner product equals .
The double cosets are the -orbits on . Because acts transitively on , these in turn correspond to the -orbits on : move the first coordinate to the base point , after which its stabilizer is . One orbit is the diagonal. There are exactly two orbits precisely when is transitive on , equivalently when the action is two-transitive. Part (ii) therefore provesThis is the irreducible augmentation criterion for a transitive group action.
Finally, transitivity implies that the fixed-vector space consists only of constant vectors and has dimension one. If the nonzero representation were a trivial representation, it would contribute another fixed vector, a contradiction. Thus is not the trivial representation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 3 19I b i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
The vectoris fixed by every element of , so is a trivial representation. The coefficient-sum subspaceis also -invariant, and every vector has a unique decomposition into a constant vector and an element of . HenceHere is the augmentation subrepresentation of a permutation representation.