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The column antisymmetrizer of a Young tableau $t$ is the group algebra elementOn the Young permutation module it has one-dimensional image $\mathbb{F}e(t)$.

Let $t$ be a Young tableau of shape $\lambda$, and let $u$ be a Young tableau of shape $\mu$, both on $n$ entries. If the Column antisymmetrizer of a Young tableau $b_t$ satisfies $b_t\{u\}\ne 0$ over any field, then $\lambda$ dominates $\mu$ in the dominance order on partitions.

If two entries from one column of $t$ lie in the same row of $u$, their transposition fixes the tabloid $\{u\}$. Pairing terms of $b_t$ by this transposition gives $b_t\{u\}=0$, including in characteristic two. Otherwise the first $r$ rows of $u$ contain at most $\min (r,{\lambda }_j^{\prime })$ entries from column $j$ of $t$. Thusfor every $r$, proving dominance.

Take two adjacent columns of a numbered Young tableau, with a bottom segment $A$ of the left column and a top segment $B$ of the right column such that $|A|+|B|$ exceeds the height of the left column. Alternating over permutations of $A\cup B$, modulo permutations preserving $A$ and $B$ separately, gives a signed relation among polytabloids. The full alternation vanishes because each tabloid has two of these entries in one row. Solving for a nonstandard polytabloid replaces its offending row inversion by earlier column-standard tableaux. The relation is proved over the free integral tabloid lattice, where cancellation and division by nonzero integer factors are valid; reduction then makes it valid in every characteristic. Together with column antisymmetry these relations give the standard polytabloid basis.

For any partition of an integer $\lambda ⊢n$, the number $f^{\lambda }$ of standard Young tableaux of shape $\lambda$ isThe numerator is a factorial, and the denominator is the hook product of a partition, using every cell's hook length once. The empty shape has one empty standard Young tableau, and the formula still holds with $0!=1$ and an empty product equal to one. By the standard polytabloid basis, $f^{\lambda }$ is also the dimension of the Specht module $S^{\lambda }$ over the complex numbers, or equivalently the degree ${\chi }^{\lambda }(1)$ of its irreducible character. For a teaching derivation of this dimension formula, see Etingof et al., Introduction to Representation Theory, §5.17, Theorem 5.17.1.

In the Young diagram of $(3,2)$, the hook length array $[[4,3,1],[2,1]]$ givesThis agrees with the five explicit fillings in standard Young tableau. Its conjugate partition $(2,2,1)$ has the same hook lengths after transposition, hence also gives dimension five. At the extremes, for $n\ge 1$, a single row $(n)$ and a single column $(1^n)$ each have hook product $n!$ and exactly one standard Young tableau; their Specht modules over the complex numbers are the trivial representation and sign representation, respectively.

Why the formula is beautiful: global compatibility of all the row and column inequalities reduces to a product of local hook lengths. It is useful when enumeration is already expensive: computing one hook length per cell replaces testing up to $n!$ numbered Young tableaux. For $(3,2)$, the proportion of the $120$ bijective fillings that are standard Young tableaux is $5/120=1/24$, the reciprocal of the hook product. This product does not justify treating overlapping hook conditions as independent; Grinberg explains that tempting but invalid argument in §1.3 of his teaching slides.

Historically, the modern hook-product statement was published by J. S. Frame, G. de B. Robinson and R. M. Thrall in 1954: ^[ref]. Their manuscript was received on 1 September 1953, and their proof reorganizes an earlier irreducible character degree formula into the product of the hook lengths. The theorem unifies the counting and representation viewpoints developed earlier by Young. For proof routes within this wiki, see trace computation of Specht module dimension, determinant formula for Specht module dimension, and Greene–Nijenhuis–Wilf hook walk.

Let $\lambda =({\lambda }_1\ge {\lambda }_2\ge \cdots )$ be a partition of an integer $n$. Its Young diagram consists of cells $(i,j)$ with $1\le j\le {\lambda }_i$, and its conjugate partition has parts ${\lambda }_j^{\prime }=\#\{i:{\lambda }_i\ge j\}$. A numbered Young tableau fills these cells bijectively with $1,\dots ,n$. Its row and column stabilizers $R_t,C_t$ permute entries within each row and each column respectively. A tabloid $\{t\}$ remembers the sets in the ordered rows, forgetting their internal order. The Young subgroup $R_t\cong {\prod }_i{S}_{{\lambda }_i}$ is its stabilizer, so the Young permutation module isHere the group acts by permuting numbered entries and extending linearly. A submodule is an invariant linear subspace. Give the tabloid basis its orthonormal symmetric bilinear form, denoted $⟨,⟩$. This form is nondegenerate and invariant under the group. Define the column antisymmetrizer and polytabloid byThus $S^{\lambda }$ is the Specht module, generated by any one $e_t$, because the group is transitive on numbered Young tableaux. The orthogonal complement $(S^{\lambda }{)}^{\perp }$ consists of vectors pairing to zero with every polytabloid.

The key calculation isTo prove it, first take $v=\{u\}$. If two entries of one column of $t$ occur in one row of $u$, their transposition $s$ fixes $\{u\}$; pairing the terms indexed by $g$ and $gs$ cancels $b_t\{u\}$. This also works in characteristic two, where the paired equal terms have sum zero. Otherwise each row of $u$ contains at most one entry from each column of $t$. The first row has ${\lambda }_1$ entries and there are ${\lambda }_1$ columns, so it uses every column once. Removing those entries, the second row must use exactly the columns of remaining positive height, and induction does the same for all rows. Consequently there is a unique $h\in C_t$ with $\{u\}=\{ht\}$. Uniqueness follows from $R_t\cap C_t=1$. In that caseLinearity proves the identity.

Now let $U\le M^{\lambda }$ be a submodule. If $U$ is not contained in $(S^{\lambda }{)}^{\perp }$, choose $v\in U$ and $t$ with $⟨v,e_t⟩\ne 0$. The displayed identity puts $e_t$ in $U$, so its group translates put all of $S^{\lambda }$ in $U$. This proves the James submodule theorem without a semisimplicity assumption.

Put $R=S^{\lambda }\cap (S^{\lambda }{)}^{\perp }$. If $R\ne S^{\lambda }$, every proper submodule of $S^{\lambda }$ lies in $R$, by the same theorem. Hence $R$ is its unique maximal submodule, and $D^{\lambda }=S^{\lambda }/R$ is irreducible. If $R=S^{\lambda }$, the quotient is zero. This conclusion remains true after every field extension $E/F$: the integral tabloid construction becomes $M_E^{\lambda }=E{\otimes }_F{M}^{\lambda }$, and the radical of the restricted form is the kernel of its Gram matrix, so it commutes with extension of scalars. A nonzero Gram entry stays nonzero in $E$. Applying the theorem over $E$ makes $E{\otimes }_F{D}^{\lambda }$ irreducible. Thus a nonzero quotient is absolutely irreducible.

The precise nonvanishing criterion isA regular partition has fewer than $p$ rows of each positive length. Here is the integral pairing argument behind this condition. Write $m_j$ for the number of rows of length $j$. Expanding two polytabloids into tabloids, simultaneous permutations of equal-length rows partition of an integer all contributions to their pairing into free orbits of size ${\prod }_j{m}_j!$; the signs agree within each orbit because the same row permutation is applied in every relevant column on both sides. Therefore every pairing is divisible by ${\prod }_j{m}_j!$. If some $m_j\ge p$, the entire restricted form is zero modulo $p$. Conversely, reverse the order of the entries in each row of a tableau to obtain $t^{\ast }$. Counting the matching column permutations in the two expansions gives, up to the harmless overall sign,Indeed the $m_j$ equal rows of length $j$ can be matched independently in each of their $j$ positions; after these choices the decreasing row lengths force every other matching. For a regular partition this integer is nonzero modulo $p$, so the form and its radical quotient are nonzero. In characteristic zero it is nonzero for every shape. This supplies the requested justification of the criterion.

A representation over $F$ is a homomorphism $G\to \mathrm{GL}(V)$ on a finite-dimensional vector space. It is irreducible if it has no nonzero proper invariant subspace, and has absolute irreducibility of a group representation if it remains irreducible after every field extension. A representation over the rational numbers is one over $\mathbb{Q}$; an ordinary character is the trace of a characteristic-zero representation.

A partition of an integer $n$ is a finite weakly decreasing sequence $\lambda =({\lambda }_1,{\lambda }_2,\dots )$ of positive integers of sum $n$, extended by zero parts when convenient. Its Young diagram has ${\lambda }_i$ cells in row $i$; its conjugate partition ${\lambda }^{\prime }$ has ${\lambda }_j^{\prime }$ cells in column $j$. Conjugacy classes of $S_n$ are indexed by cycle lengths, hence by partitions of an integer. The number of ordinary irreducible characters equals the number of conjugacy classes; we now construct that many mutually distinct representations over the rational numbers.

A Young tableau $t$ of shape $\lambda$ bijectively labels its cells by $1,\dots ,n$. Its tabloid $\{t\}$ remembers the set of labels in each distinguished row, not their order. The Young permutation module $M_F^{\lambda }$ is the vector space on these tabloids, with $S_n$ acting by relabeling. Its tabloid bilinear form makes the tabloid basis orthonormal. Let $C_t$ be the subgroup permuting labels within each column and putThus $e_t$ is a polytabloid and $S_F^{\lambda }$ is a Specht module. Relabeling takes $e_t$ to $e_{gt}$, so any polytabloid generates the module. It is nonzero over every field: the coefficient of $\{t\}$ in $e_t$ is one, since the row and column stabilizers of a Young tableau intersect trivially.

Here is the elementary identity behind irreducibility. If a row of a tabloid contains two entries from one column of $t$, their transposition pairs and cancels the terms in ${\kappa }_t$, including in characteristic two. Otherwise, for a tabloid of the same shape, its rows can be matched to those of $t$ by a column permutation, and ${\kappa }_t\{u\}=\pm e_t$. Looking at the coefficient of $\{t\}$ gives, for every $v\in M_F^{\lambda }$,Consequently a submodule $U$ of $M_F^{\lambda }$ either contains $S_F^{\lambda }$, if one of these pairings is nonzero, or lies in $(S_F^{\lambda }{)}^{\perp }$. This proves the James submodule theorem used below.

Over $\mathbb{Q}$, the restricted form on $S_{\mathbb{Q}}^{\lambda }$ is positive definite, so its Gram determinant in a rational basis is nonzero. Extending scalars to any characteristic-zero field preserves that nonzero determinant and hence keeps the restricted form a nondegenerate bilinear form. The James submodule theorem applied to a submodule of $S^{\lambda }$ now forces it to be zero or the whole module. Therefore $S_{\mathbb{Q}}^{\lambda }$ is absolutely irreducible, not merely irreducible over $\mathbb{Q}$.

To distinguish shapes, the cancellation argument above works for a $\mu$-tabloid too. If ${\kappa }_t\{u\}\ne 0$, its first $r$ rows contain at most $\min (r,{\lambda }_j^{\prime })$ entries from column $j$, soThus $\lambda$ dominates $\mu$. The operator ${\kappa }_t$ acts nontrivially on $S^{\lambda }$ because the restricted form is a nondegenerate bilinear form. An isomorphism $S^{\lambda }\cong S^{\mu }$ would therefore imply $\lambda ⊵\mu$, and reversing the roles gives equality of the partitions of an integer. Counting conjugacy classes proves exhaustion. All matrices in a rational polytabloid basis have rational entries, giving the requested representations over the rational numbers.

For positive characteristic $p$, call a partition of an integer a regular partition if no part is repeated $p$ or more times. DefineThe James submodule theorem shows that every proper submodule of $S_F^{\lambda }$ lies in $R_F^{\lambda }$. Whenever the restricted form is nonzero, $R_F^{\lambda }$ is proper and its quotient is simple.

We verify exactly when this happens. Let $m_j$ be the number of rows of length $j$. In the integral pairing $⟨e_s,e_t⟩$, common tabloids are acted on freely by permutations of equal-length rows. Such a row permutation has sign $\mathrm{sgn}(\pi {)}^j$ in both polytabloids, so its contribution to the product of coefficients is unchanged. Each orbit has size ${\prod }_j{m}_j!$. Thus that integer divides every pairing. On the other hand, reverse each row of $t$ to obtain $t^{\ast }$. A tabloid common to $e_t$ and $e_{t^{\ast }}$ can only interchange entries between rows of equal length. There are $m_j!$ independent choices in each of their $j$ columns, and the two signs agree. HenceThese two products have exactly the same prime divisors. All pairings vanish modulo $p$ precisely when some $m_j\ge p$. Therefore $D_F^{\lambda }\ne 0$ exactly for $p$-regular $\lambda$.

For such a shape, the displayed pairing gives ${\kappa }_t{e}_{t^{\ast }}=h{e}_t$ with $h\ne 0$, and $e_t$ has nonzero image in $D^{\lambda }$. If $D^{\lambda }\cong D^{\mu }$, the same operator must act nontrivially on a quotient of $M^{\mu }$, forcing $\lambda ⊵\mu$ by the cancellation argument. Interchanging the shapes proves $\lambda =\mu$.

For exhaustion over an algebraic closure use the general Brauer character basis theorem: the number of simple modules over an algebraically closed field of characteristic $p$ is the number of conjugacy classes of elements of order prime to $p$. Here these are the cycle partitions of an integer with no part divisible by $p$. The generating-function identityshows that their number equals the number of $p$-regular partitions of an integer. We have already constructed that many distinct simple modules, so they exhaust all simples. The form, its radical and its quotient commute with field extension, and the same simplicity proof holds after every extension. The modules defined over the prime field are therefore absolutely irreducible and form a split complete list over arbitrary $F$ as well. In summary,For characteristic zero the list is instead all $S_F^{\lambda }$. In positive characteristic a Specht module itself need not be irreducible; the radical quotient is essential.

For $n\ge 2$, a cycle type $\alpha ⊢n$ lies in $A_n$ exactly when $n-\ell (\alpha )$ is even. Its $S_n$ conjugacy class is either one $A_n$ class or two equal-sized classes. Splitting occurs exactly when its centralizer in $S_n$ contains no odd permutation. An even-length cycle is itself odd; two equal odd-length cycles can be interchanged by an odd permutation. Conversely, for distinct odd cycle lengths the centralizer is a product of cyclic groups of odd order, all contained in $A_n$. Thus the classes that split are exactly the partitions of an integer into distinct odd parts. Repeated fixed points count as repeated parts of length one.

For $n=1$ the group is trivial, with its single trivial representation. Assume $n\ge 2$ for the index-two argument that follows. For ordinary representations work over $\mathbb{C}$. Tensoring $S^{\lambda }$ by the sign representation gives $S^{{\lambda }^{\prime }}$. The index-two restriction identity, obtained by Frobenius reciprocity, isIf $\lambda \ne {\lambda }^{\prime }$, restriction is irreducible, and the conjugate pair gives the same irreducible. If $\lambda ={\lambda }^{\prime }$, the norm is two, so restriction is the sum of two distinct irreducibles. An odd permutation interchanges them, so both have degree $f^{\lambda }/2$. Every irreducible of $A_n$ occurs in some such restriction: induce it to $S_n$ and choose an irreducible constituent, then apply reciprocity. The displayed inner product distinguishes all the listed constituents. HenceThe first family has degree $f^{\lambda }$, the second degree $f^{\lambda }/2$. A choice of labels for the two split classes and constituents fixes the otherwise interchangeable signs.

The one-dimensional representations are characters of the abelianization. For $n\ge 5$, simplicity and noncommutativity of $A_n$ make its abelianization trivial. For $n=4$, its commutator subgroup is the Klein four-group and its abelianization is $C_3$, giving the three characters obtained by sending a quotient generator to $1,\omega ,{\omega }^2$. For $n=3$, $A_3=C_3$ has the same three characters; for $n=1,2$ the group is trivial and has just one. The two additional linear characters at $n=4$ are the split constituents of shape $(2,2)$; at $n=3$ they come from $(2,1)$.

Here is a dimension argument that also proves the asserted uniqueness without assuming a classification of small character degrees. Write $f^{\lambda }$ for the number of standard tableaux. Removing the cell containing the largest label givesHook lengths, or direct Young tableau counting, give the following small cases: for $S_5,S_6$ every non-linear degree is at least $4,5$, respectively. Among non-self-conjugate shapes excluding the row, column and standard pair, the minimum degree at $n=5,6,7$ is respectively $5,5,14$. The self-conjugate shapes at these sizes have half-degrees $3,8,10$, respectively, from $(3,1^2),(3,2,1),(4,1^3)$.

Inductively, for every $n\ge 7$, a shape other than the row, column or standard pair has all its one-cell predecessors non-linear. If it has at least two removable corners, each predecessor has degree at least $n-2$, so its degree is at least $2(n-2)$. If it has only one corner, it is a nontrivial rectangle $(a^b)$. Remove that corner and then either of the two corners of $(a^{b-1},a-1)$. For $n\ge 8$ these two size-$n-2$ shapes are non-linear, so its degree is at least $2(n-3)$. At $n=7$ there is no nontrivial rectangle. Together with the size-5 and size-6 checks this proves by induction that the standard pair is the only pair of shapes of degree $n-1$ for $n\ge 7$, and that every other non-linear degree is larger.

We must additionally exclude a self-conjugate shape of degree $2(n-1)$, since its restriction splits. For $n\ge 8$, if such a shape has at least three corners, the preceding lower bound gives $f^{\lambda }\ge 3(n-2)>2(n-1)$. With two corners, its predecessors are a conjugate pair and are not standard shapes; the bounds just proved give $f^{\lambda }\ge 4(n-4)>2(n-1)$. With one corner it is a square $(a^a)$. For $a\ge 4$, the two size-$n-2$ predecessors obtained after two removals are nonstandard, giving $f^{\lambda }\ge 4(n-5)>2(n-1)$. The remaining square $(3^3)$ has degree $42>16$ by the hook-length formula. The size-7 self-conjugate case has degree $20>12$. This excludes both smaller split degrees and equality with the standard degree.

It follows that the lowest non-linear ordinary degree is $3$ for $A_4$ and $n-1$ for every $n\ge 6$. For $A_1,A_2,A_3$ no non-linear irreducible exists. The excluded case $A_5$ has lowest degree $3$, although its standard degree-$4$ representation is unique. At $A_6$ there are two degree-$5$ irreducibles, from the standard conjugate pair and the pair $(3,3),(2,2,2)$.

Finally, for every $n\ge 7$ the preceding proof gives a unique degree-$n-1$ irreducible, namely the restriction of $S^{(n-1,1)}$. The small cases $n=4,5$ have unique degree $3,4$, respectively, and $A_2$ has its unique trivial degree-$1$ representation. These prove exactly the requested uniqueness range; the omitted cases $n=3,6$ genuinely fail.

Use the pair of partitions for a generalized Specht module convention appropriate to generalized Specht modules. Put $a={\mu }^{♯}$ and $b=\mu$. Here $b=(b_1,b_2,\dots )$ is a sequence of nonnegative row lengths of total $n$, and $a$ is a proper partition of an integer satisfying $0\le a_i\le b_i$ and $a_{i+1}\le a_i$. The row-length sequence $b$ is allowed to be a composition; it need not decrease. The first $a_i$ cells of row $i$ are marked. This construction is not an arbitrary pair of unrelated partitions of an integer and is not simply a skew diagram $b/a$.

A word has type $b$ if it contains $b_i$ occurrences of $i$. Read it from left to right. Every occurrence of $1$ is good; an occurrence of $i+1$ is good exactly when there have so far been more good occurrences of $i$ than good occurrences of $i+1$. Otherwise it is bad. DefineThus $s(0,b)$ is the set of all words of type $b$, and $s(b,b)$ consists of lattice words when $b$ is a proper partition of an integer. Marking the whole first row makes no difference because every $1$ is good.

For a Young tableau $T$ with row lengths $b$, let $C_T^a$ permute labels within each column of its marked subdiagram, fixing all unmarked labels. Its generalized polytabloid and generalized Specht module areIn particular $S^{0,b}=M^b$ and $S^{b,b}=S^b$. The Young tableau shape in this definition must be the row sequence $b$.

We give the filtration argument, keeping its combinatorial and module-theoretic steps separate. Normalize $a_1=b_1$, and if $a\ne b$ choose the first row $c>1$ with $a_c<b_c$. Then $a_{c-1}=b_{c-1}$. Define $A_c(a,b)=(a+e_c,b)$ if $a_{c-1}>a_c$; otherwise the add branch is empty. Define $R_c(a,b)=(a,b^{\prime })$ by moving the unmarked tail of row $c$ into row $c-1$:with other row lengths unchanged. Re-normalize the first marked row if necessary. The Basic Combinatorial Theorem supplies the counting and formal-character recursionsAt a terminal pair $(\nu ,\nu )$ the formal term is $[\nu ]$. Thus the second recursion specifies the Specht multiplicities by the terminal leaves, with repeated leaves counted separately.

Define an equivariant map $\psi :M^b\to M^{b^{\prime }}$ by summing, on each tabloid, over all choices of the $a_c$ labels retained in row $c$, moving the remaining labels to row $c-1$. Column cancellation givesFor the first identity, terms that put two marked labels of one column in the raised row cancel in pairs; the surviving marked antisymmetrizer is the one for the raised pair, and every target generator has a preimage. For the second, the extra marked cell makes such a collision unavoidable, so the sum vanishes. Also antisymmetrizing the extra cell expresses its generator as a sum of old generators, proving containment in $S^{a,b}$.

There is a characteristic-independent lower bound $\dim S^{a,b}\ge |s(a,b)|$. Given a word in $s(a,b)$, place the label $j$ in its letter's row: good occurrences fill that row from the left and bad occurrences fill it from the right. The marked cells form increasing column chains because each good $i+1$ has an earlier unmatched good $i$. Its generalized polytabloid has the original row-assignment tabloid with coefficient one; every other term changes an earlier member of a marked chain. Ordering these row assignments gives a triangular coefficient matrix. The resulting vectors are independent over every field.

Start with $(0,v)$, where equality holds because the tabloid basis is indexed by all words of type $v$. Any pair is reached from such a pair by a sequence of add and raise operations: reverse a raise by splitting a raised tail, and reverse an add by unmarking a cell; row by row these recover an entirely unmarked composition. Suppose equality holds at a pair. The map and kernel containment above giveEvery inequality is therefore equality. In particular the containment is the whole kernel, andis exact. The process terminates because each add marks an extra cell and each raise decreases the total row index of unmarked cells. Induction from the terminal Specht modules, splicing their filtrations through these exact sequences, proves a Specht series with factors precisely $[0{]}^{[{\mu }^{♯},\mu ]}$. No splitting of these sequences in positive characteristic is asserted.

Applying the same marking, raising and straightening procedure to the two sets of column antisymmetrizers in $(S^{\mu }⊠S^{\lambda }){\uparrow }^{S_{r+s}}$, where $|\mu |=r$, $|\lambda |=s$, leaves the cells of $\mu$ fixed and records the added cells by their row labels from $\lambda$. The column relations require strict increase down columns, the row relations weak increase along rows, and the good-letter matching in a tableau word test requires a lattice word. Thus the surviving terminal multiplicity is the number $c_{\mu \lambda }^{\nu }$ of Semistandard Young tableaux of skew shape of shape $\nu /\mu$ and content $\lambda$ whose word, read right-to-left along successive rows from top to bottom, has at least as many $i$'s as $(i+1)$'s in every prefix. The same triangular leading-tabloid argument identifies each quotient with $S^{\nu }$. Consequently the Littlewood–Richardson rule isIt describes ordinary irreducible constituents in characteristic zero and Specht filtration factors over arbitrary $F$.

For induction by one letter, content $(1)$ permits exactly one added cell and each multiplicity is one. A Specht series for the requested induced module has successive quotients, ordered by addable nodes from bottom to top,Equivalently there is $0=N_0\subset N_1\subset N_2\subset N_3\subset N_4=S^{(4,2,2,1)}{\uparrow }^{S_{10}}$ with these four quotients in order. Their dimensions $567,300,768,525$ sum to $2160=10\cdot 216$, the dimension of the induced module.

For a cell $(i,j)$ in the Young diagram of $\lambda$, its hook of a Young diagram consists of that cell, the cells to its right in row $i$ and the cells below it in column $j$. Its length isA removable rim hook is a connected border strip $\lambda /\mu$ containing no $2\times 2$ square, whose removal leaves a Young diagram. Its leg length is the number of rows it meets minus one. The hook graph is the Young diagram labeled at each cell by $h_{ij}$; here “graph” means this labeled array, not a graph of possible hook-walk moves.

Choose $l\ge \ell (\lambda )$, pad with zeros and form the beta numbersThey are distinct nonnegative integers in decreasing order and recover ${\lambda }_i={\beta }_i-l+i$. For $l=\ell (\lambda )$ they equal the first-column hook lengths, since $h_{i1}={\lambda }_i+l-i$. If $l$ is increased, old beta numbers shift upward by one and a new bead at zero is inserted.

For a prime-modulus partition abacus arrange the nonnegative positions in $p$ runners: position $pq+r$ lies at level $q$ on runner $r$, $0\le r<p$. Put beads at the beta numbers and leave the other positions empty. Replacing a bead at $b$ by a bead at a vacant $b-k\ge 0$ removes a rim hook of length $k$; its leg length is the number of beads strictly between these positions. This follows by tracing the boundary of the diagram: bead positions record vertical steps and gaps record horizontal steps, and exchanging one bead and gap removes the intervening border strip. In particular a removable $p$-hook is exactly a bead that can slide up one place on its own runner.

The partition core at modulus $p$ is the result of sliding beads up until there are no gaps above any bead on a runner. If runner $r$ initially has $b_r$ beads, its final occupied levels must be $0,1,\dots ,b_r-1$, independently of slide order. Thus its packed beta set, and hence its core partition of an integer, is unique. Increasing the number of beta numbers merely re-expresses the same boundary by shifting positions and adding the new initial bead; the packed configuration represents the same partition of an integer. This proves well-definedness both with respect to removal order and to the chosen padding. The number of slides isThe partition quotient components record how far each runner's beads lie above their packed positions, giving the hook-removal interpretation used in Question 5.

A block of a group algebra in characteristic $p$ for $F{S}_n$ is a two-sided ideal $B=F{S}_{n}e$ for a primitive central idempotent $e$, meaning a nonzero central idempotent that is not a sum of two nonzero orthogonal central idempotents. The identity is the sum of these block idempotents and the group algebra is their direct product. An indecomposable module $V$ belongs to $B$ when $eV=V$, equivalently every other block idempotent acts as zero. Indeed $V={⨁}_{e}eV$; indecomposability makes exactly one summand nonzero.

The Nakayama block theorem, historically called the Nakayama Conjecture, statesEquivalently the ordinary characters assigned to one modular block have a common partition core at modulus $p$. Its simple modules are the $D^{\lambda }$ with regular $\lambda$ having that core. Only cores $\kappa$ for which $n-|\kappa |$ is a nonnegative multiple of $p$ occur. The block weight is $(n-|\kappa |)/p$; a core alone determines the block at this fixed degree.

One route to the proof separates the combinatorial core invariant from the algebraic center invariant. Let $c_r(\lambda )$ be the number of cells of residue $r=j-i(\mathrm{mod}p)$. A length-$p$ rim hook has one cell of every residue: along its border strip the contents are consecutive integers. Therefore removal subtracts one from every $c_r$. More precisely, choose the number $l$ of beta numbers divisible by $p$ and write the runner charges as $q_r=b_r-l/p$. Reading the boundary, or adding a cell and checking its two changed beta positions, givesThe charges determine the packed runners and hence the core. For fixed $n$, two equal cores have the same weight, so their full residue multisets are equal. Conversely equal residue multisets give equal charges and the same core. This establishesfor partitions of an integer of the same integer. The fixed-degree condition matters.

For the center invariant, use the commuting Jucys–Murphy elements $J_k={\sum }_{i<k}(ik)$, with $J_1=0$. In the Young seminormal form basis, $J_k$ has eigenvalue equal to the content of the cell containing $k$. A symmetric polynomial in them therefore acts on $S^{\lambda }$ as the same scalar for every Young tableau: its value on the multiset of all contents of $\lambda$. The integral Specht lattice makes this a scalar identity before modular reduction, so modulo $p$ these central scalars depend only on the residue multiset, and every composition factor inherits them.

The substantive center theorem used in this proof is that the center of the symmetric-group algebra, integrally and over a field, consists of symmetric polynomials in the Jucys–Murphy elements. Centrality of elementary symmetric polynomials follows fromthe coefficients are central class-sum combinations. The reverse inclusion requires the integral triangular class-sum argument: expand symmetric monomials in the $J_k$ as products of transpositions, group the leading terms by reduced cycle type, and eliminate these leading class sums in the resulting unitriangular order. The integral coefficients, with no division by multiples of $p$, are crucial; knowing the center only over $\mathbb{Q}$ would not prove the modular assertion. This is the central algebraic ingredient of this proof route.

Thus equal residue multisets yield equal characters of the entire modular center. Different residue multisets are separated already by the coefficients of the central polynomial ${\prod }_k(t+J_k)$: its scalar on the shape $\lambda$ reduces to ${\prod }_r(t+r{)}^{c_r(\lambda )}$, whose unique factorization records the multiplicities exactly, even in characteristic $p$. In a finite-dimensional split algebra, two simple modules are in the same block exactly when their central characters agree: the center of each block is local, while different block idempotents separate different blocks. It follows that equal cores give one block and different cores give distinct blocks. This proves both directions rather than just observing that core is constant on known blocks.

Finally, each ordinary Specht lattice has a single reduced central character, so all constituents of its reduction lie in that one block. Question 1 supplies every simple module and its label; the regular labels therefore identify all the simples in each core block. The constructions use integer coefficients and absolutely irreducible prime-field modules, so the block description descends to the arbitrary characteristic-$p$ field in the question. This completes the main steps of the block proof without presupposing semisimplicity in positive characteristic.

A partition of an integer $n$ is a finite sequence ${\lambda }_1\ge \cdots \ge {\lambda }_{\ell }>0$ with sum $n$; append zeros when comparing lengths. Its Young diagram has cells $(i,j)$ with $1\le j\le {\lambda }_i$. A Young tableau is a bijective filling of these cells by $1,\dots ,n$. Write $R_t,C_t$ for its row and column stabilizers, and fix the conventionPermutations act on entries on the left, with the rightmost factor acting first. This defines the Young symmetrizer used throughout. In the dictionary order on integer partitions, $\lambda >\mu$ means that at the first differing part ${\lambda }_i>{\mu }_i$; equality is allowed in $\ge$.

Suppose there is no row-column collision between $t$ of shape $\lambda$ and $u$ of shape $\mu$. Each column of $u$ contains at most one entry from each row of $t$. The first $k$ rows of $t$ therefore contain at mostentries, where ${\mu }_j^{\prime }$ is a column length. Thus ${\sum }_{i\le k}{\lambda }_i\le {\sum }_{i\le k}{\mu }_i$ for every $k$: $\mu$ dominates $\lambda$ in dominance order on partitions. If $\lambda \ge \mu$ in dictionary order on integer partitions, a first strictly larger part would contradict the corresponding prefix inequality. Hence $\lambda =\mu$.

All the bounds must now be equalities. Every column $j$ of $u$ contains exactly one entry from row $i$ of $t$ whenever $i\le {\lambda }_j^{\prime }$. Choose $r_0\in R_t$ sending that entry to the entry of $t$ in cell $(i,j)$. These prescriptions are bijections within the rows. The columns of $r_{0}u$ then have exactly the same sets of entries as the columns of $t$, so $r_{0}u=c_{0}t$ for some $c_0\in C_t$. ConsequentlyIf a collision was present instead, its two entries supply the first alternative. This proves the row-column collision lemma, including the prescribed order of the two stabilizer factors.

We next prove the Specht module classification. By Maschke's theorem, the group algebra $A=\mathbb{C}{S}_n$ is a semisimple algebra. Use the permitted basic quasi-idempotence of a Young symmetrizer,and put $e_t=h_t/H_{\lambda }$. The coefficient of $1$ in $h_t$ is one, because $R_t\cap C_t=\{1\}$, so $e_t\ne 0$.

For $\pi \in S_n$, consider $r_t\pi c_t$. A collision between the rows of $t$ and the columns of $\pi t$ gives a transposition $\tau \in R_t\cap \pi C_t{\pi }^{-1}$. Row symmetrization fixes $\tau$, whereas column antisymmetrization changes its sign, so $r_t\pi c_t=0$. If there is no collision, the proved lemma gives $\pi =rc$ with $r\in R_t,c\in C_t$, andIt follows that $h_t\pi h_t$ is zero or $\mathrm{sgn}(c)H_{\lambda }{h}_t$. Since permutations span $A$, $e_{t}A{e}_t=\mathbb{C}{e}_t$. In a semisimple algebra this means that $e_t$ is a primitive idempotent, so $A{e}_t=A{h}_t$ is an irreducible left module.

If $\lambda >\mu$ in dictionary order on integer partitions, the collision lemma applied to every $\pi u$ gives $r_{t}A{c}_u=0$, and therefore $h_{t}A{h}_u=0$. Sincethe two simple modules cannot be isomorphic. Conversely, Young tableaux of the same shape are related by a permutation, which conjugates their Young symmetrizers and gives isomorphic left ideals. Finally, the center of $\mathbb{C}{S}_n$ has the conjugacy-class sums as a basis. Conjugacy classes are indexed by cycle-type partitions, so its dimension is the number of partitions of $n$. The Artin–Wedderburn theorem gives exactly that many simple-module isomorphism classes. We have already produced one for each partition. Thus the $A{h}_{\lambda }$ form a complete set of pairwise nonisomorphic irreducible modules.

For a Young tableau $t$, let $R_t$ permute the entries within its rows and $C_t$ within its columns. We use the Young symmetrizer conventionReversing the order gives another usual realization of the same irreducible polynomial module. On the tensor power $T=V^{\otimes n}$, the actions areThey commute because applying $g$ to every factor commutes with permuting the factors.

We state the permitted combinatorial input explicitly. A Young symmetrizer satisfies $h_t^2=H_{\lambda }{h}_t$, where $H_{\lambda }$ is the nonzero hook product of a partition. Thus $e_t=H_{\lambda }^{-1}{h}_t$ is a primitive idempotent. The standard-tableau decomposition of the right regular module is $\mathbb{C}{S}_n={⨁}_{\lambda ,t\mathrm{standard}}{e}_t\mathbb{C}{S}_n$. Tensor this right-module direct sum with the left module $T$. The map $e_t\mathbb{C}{S}_n{\otimes }_{\mathbb{C}{S}_n}T\to e_{t}T$ sending $e_{t}a\otimes v$ to $e_{t}av$ is an isomorphism, with inverse $w\mapsto e_t\otimes w$. Therefore the Young-symmetrizer tensor decomposition isThis is a direct sum of $GL(V)$-modules; individual summands need not be $S_n$-invariant.

We also state the allowed Schur algebra result, namely Schur–Weyl duality: the two actions are mutual commutants, andwhere the $D_{\lambda }(V)$ are pairwise nonisomorphic irreducible homogeneous polynomial representations of degree $n$. We also use the standard Schur algebra equivalence between its modules and homogeneous degree-$n$ polynomial representations, so these exhaust the irreducibles in that category. A primitive idempotent $e_t$ has one-dimensional image on $S^{\lambda }$ and zero image on the other simple factors, so $h_{t}T\cong D_{\lambda }(V)$. This identifies the requested irreducibles. They classify the polynomial degree-$n$ representations in this tensor power, not all rational representations of every degree.

The length bound for a Schur module is $D_{\lambda }(V)\ne 0$ if and only if $\ell (\lambda )\le m$. A column of length greater than $m$ antisymmetrizes more than $m$ vectors and gives zero. Conversely, for $\ell (\lambda )\le m$, fill every tensor position in row $i$ with the $i$th basis vector of $V$. Row symmetrization multiplies it by ${\prod }_i{\lambda }_i!$, and column antisymmetrization is nonzero because the vectors within each column are distinct basis vectors.

A rational representation of an algebraic group is a regular morphism into the general linear group of its representation space. For $G{L}_m$, its matrix entries belong to $\mathbb{C}[g_{ij},\det (g{)}^{-1}]$; rational here permits determinant denominators but not arbitrary poles on $G{L}_m$. A one-dimensional rational character of ${\mathbb{C}}^{\times }$ is a Laurent polynomial $p(z)$ with $p(zw)=p(z)p(w)$ and $p(1)=1$. Comparing Laurent coefficients shows that just one monomial occurs and its coefficient is $1$, hence $p(z)=z^r$ for $r\in \mathbb{Z}$.

Restrict a one-dimensional rational character of $G{L}_m$ to its diagonal torus. The same argument in several variables gives ${\prod }_i{x}_i^{r_i}$. Conjugation by permutation matrices makes all $r_i$ equal. On every diagonalizable invertible matrix it consequently agrees with $(\det g{)}^r$. The allowed Zariski-density statement, and equality of regular functions on a dense subset, giveThese are the one-dimensional rational characters of the general linear group.

For complete reducibility of rational GL and SL representations, use the compact-group averaging argument. Average any positive definite Hermitian inner product over $SU(m)$ using normalized Haar measure. The orthogonal complement of an invariant subspace is then $SU(m)$-invariant. Differentiating makes it invariant under $\mathfrak{su}(m)$ and therefore under its complex span ${\mathfrak{sl}}_m(\mathbb{C})$. The elementary unipotent matrices $\exp (t{E}_{ij})$ generate $S{L}_m(\mathbb{C})$, so the complement is $S{L}_m$-invariant. This proves complete reducibility. Averaging over $U(m)$ similarly gives complete reducibility for rational $G{L}_m$ representations.

Here is an explicit rational extension from SL to GL. Decompose the representation space by the finite scalar center of $S{L}_m$ into subspaces $W_k$ on which $\zeta I$ acts as ${\zeta }^k$, with $0\le k<m$ and ${\zeta }^m=1$. These subspaces are invariant. For $g\in G{L}_m$, choose $a$ with $a^m=\det g$, set $s=a^{-1}g\in S{L}_m$, and defineChanging $a$ to $\zeta a$ changes $s$ to ${\zeta }^{-1}s$, so the two factors cancel. It is a homomorphism, since scalar roots multiply up to the same harmless factor, and it restricts to $\rho$ on $S{L}_m$.

It is rational as well. Every matrix coefficient of $\rho {|}_{W_k}$ has a polynomial representative on $S{L}_m$. Averaging that representative over the finite scalar center selects its homogeneous parts $P_d$ with $d\equiv k(\mathrm{mod}m)$. Substitution in the extension gives ${\sum }_d(\det g{)}^{(k-d)/m}{P}_d(g)$, a regular function on $G{L}_m$. Each $S{L}_m$-invariant subspace decomposes into its $W_k$ parts, and the extension acts on each part by a scalar times an $S{L}_m$ action. Thus these subspaces are also invariant under the chosen extension. Consequently $\rho$ is irreducible if and only if this ${\rho }^{\prime }$ is irreducible. For $m=1$, $S{L}_1$ is trivial and the trivial extension supplies the same conclusion.

For a box $(i,j)$ of a Young diagram, its hook of a Young diagram contains that box, all boxes to its right in its row, and all boxes below it in its column. Its hook length is $h_{ij}={\lambda }_i-j+{\lambda }_j^{\prime }-i+1$. The hook graph of a partition is the diagram with each box labeled by its hook length. Write $H_{\lambda }={\prod }_{(i,j)\in \lambda }{h}_{ij}$ for the hook product of a partition. The hook-length formula is

Pad $\lambda$ to $m$ rows and use the beta set of a partition ${\ell }_i={\lambda }_i+m-i$, so ${\ell }_1>\cdots >{\ell }_m\ge 0$ and ${\sum }_i{\ell }_i=n+d$, where $d=\left(\genfrac{}{}{0ex}{}{m}{2}\right)$. We prove the beta-set hook-product identity row by row. For $1\le j\le {\lambda }_i$, put $q_j=m+j-{\lambda }_j^{\prime }-1$; then $h_{ij}={\ell }_i-q_j$. The $q_j$ are distinct integers in $[0,{\ell }_i-1]$, and none equals a beta number. Indeed, if $k\le {\lambda }_j^{\prime }$ then ${\ell }_k\ge q_j+1$, whereas if $k>{\lambda }_j^{\prime }$ then ${\ell }_k\le q_j-1$. Exactly $m-i$ beta numbers lie below ${\ell }_i$, so the remaining ${\lambda }_i$ integers in that interval are precisely these $q_j$. ThereforeThis gives the equivalent Specht module dimension expression $f^{\lambda }=n!\Delta (\ell )/{\prod }_i{\ell }_i!$.