## Files in this item

FilesDescriptionFormat

application/pdf

8721660.pdf (4MB)
(no description provided)PDF

## Description

 Title: On the Projective Characters of the Finite Chevalley Groups Author(s): Holmes, Randall Reed Department / Program: Mathematics Discipline: Mathematics Degree Granting Institution: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Degree: Ph.D. Genre: Dissertation Subject(s): Mathematics Abstract: Let p be a prime number, let m be a positive integer and let G be a universal Chevalley group constructed over a field of order ${\rm p\sp{m}}.$ We consider the modular representations (in characteristic p) of the group G. More precisely, we study the Brauer characters of G, concentrating on the projective indecomposable characters (those characters afforded by the projective indecomposable modules). The main tool used in the paper is Steinberg's Tensor Product Theorem.To begin with, we develop a systematic method, using the language of graphs, to decompose a product of irreducible characters into a sum of its irreducible constituents. The main result is an expression for the multiplicity of a given irreducible as a constituent in a product of irreducibles.This leads to a recursion formula for the projective indecomposable characters which generalizes a formula obtained by Chastkofsky and Feit in their work on the special linear group ${\rm SL(3,2\sp{m}}).$ This formula is then used to factor certain projective indecomposable characters into products of "twisted" characters, the twists being given by the Frobenius automorphism of G as in Steinberg's Theorem.Using our findings, we compute the degrees of some projective indecomposable characters of some specific groups. We recover degree formulas obtained earlier by Srinivasan, by Chastkofsky and Feit, and by Cheng for the groups ${\rm SL(2,p\sp{m}})$ (p arbitrary), ${\rm SL(3,2\sp{m}}),$ and ${\rm G\sb2(p\sp{m}})$ (p = 2,3), respectively. In addition, we obtain new degree formulas for the groups ${\rm SL(3,3\sp{m}})$ and ${\rm SL(4,2\sp{m}}).$Finally, we develop an algorithm, based on the recursion formula, for the computation of the projective indecomposable characters of the group ${\rm SL(4,2\sp{m}}).$ We provide a computer program which carries out the algorithm and, by way of illustration, we use the program to generate tables of degrees for m = 1, 2, 3 and 4. Issue Date: 1987 Type: Text Description: 150 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1987. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/71256 Other Identifier(s): (UMI)AAI8721660 Date Available in IDEALS: 2014-12-16 Date Deposited: 1987
﻿