SOLUTION SET 5

Problem 1 Let G be a simple group of order 168. How many elements of order 7 does G contain?
(This problem does not relate to representation theory; its just a chance to think a bit more about
groups.)
This was the problem from a QR exam. Since 7 only divides 168 once, each 7-sylow must
be a cyclic group of order 7. So each element of order 7 is in a unique 7-sylow and each 7-sylow
contains 6 elements of order 7. The number of 7 Sylows must be 1 mod 7 and must divide 168, so
it must be 1 or 8. If there were only one 7-sylow, it would be normal, so there are 8 7-sylow and
48 elements of order 7.
Problem 2 Let G be a finite group and X a finite set with an action of G. Let CX be the vectors
space of functions X C, with the obvious action of G. Let be the character of CX.
(a) Give a simple description of (g).
(b) Show by a direct argument dim(CX)G is the number
of orbits of G acting on X.
1 P
G
(c) Compare (b) with the formula dim V = #(G) gG (g) proved in class. What result have
you reproved?
1 P
2
(d) Show that |G|
gG (g) is the number of orbits of G acting on X X.
P (e) Let G act transitively on X, and let U CX be the space of functions f : X C with
xX f (x) = 0. Show that U is irreducible if and only if G acts transitively on the set of ordered
pairs {(x, y) X 2 , x 6= y}.
(a) For any g in G, (g) is the number of fixed points of X acting on G. Just look at the
permutation matrix of g acting on X: Each fixed point contributes a 1 on the diagonal; each other
diagonal entry is 0.
(b) Clearly, a function f in CX is fixed by G if and only if it is constant on G orbits. So the
dimension of CX is the number of G-orbits.
1 P
g
(c) We have shown that the number of G orbits is equal to #(G)
gG #(X ). This previously
appeared on PSet 1, Problem 2 and is known as Burnsides Lemma.
(d) We apply the above results to G acting on X X. We have # ((X X)g ) = #(X g )2 = (g)2 .
(e) We first give a proof by character theory. Let be the character of U . Let the irreducible
L di
decomposition of U be
Ui . Then
X
1 X
d2i =
(g)(g 1 ).
#(G)
gG

Since CX = 1 U , we have (g) = (g) + 1, or (g) = (g) 1. The fixed points of g are the
same as those of g 1 , so (g) = (g 1 ) and we have (g) = (g 1 ). So the above is
1 X
1 X
1 X
((g) 1))2 =
(g)2 2
(g) + 1.
#(G)
#(G)
#(G)
gG

gG

gG

We know that the first term is the number of orbits of G acting on X X (part (d)). We know
that the middle term is 2 times the number of orbits of G acting on X, which is assumed to be 1.
So we have
#((X X)/G) 2 + 1.
P 2
We see that U is irreducible, if and only if
di = 1, if and only if #((X X)/G) 2 + 1 = 1, if
and only if G has 2 orbits acting on X X. One orbits is clearly the diagonal, to U is irreducible
if and only if G acts transitively on X X.
Proof avoiding character theory: But we havent actually learned that dim HomG (V, W ) =
1 P
1
gG V (g) W (g) yet. So lets give a direct proof. All we really needed for the above
#(G)
argument was to demonstrate that
dim HomG (CX, CX) = #((X X)/G).

So lets prove this directly. Take the standard basis for CX, indexed by the elements of X. So a
linear map from CX to itself is given by a #(X) #(X) matrix Axy where x and y run over X.
For g G, we have ((g)A(g)1 )xy = Ag(x)g(y) . So A commutes with the action of G if and only
if Axy = Ag(x)g(y) for all g G. In other words, A is a map of G-representations if and only if the
entries of the matrix A must be constant on G orbits of X X. So the vector space HomG (CX, CX)
has dimension equal to the number of G orbits on X X.
Problem 3 Let G be a group, k a field and V and W finite dimensional representations of G
over k. Define HomG (V, W ) to be the set of k-linear maps : V W such that (g v) = g (v)
for all g G and v V .
Let K be an extension field of k. Let G act on V K and W K by the same matrices by which
it acts on V and W . Let HomG (V K, W K) be the set of K-linear maps : V K W K
such that (g v) = g (v) for all g G and v V K.
(a) Show that dimk HomG (V, W )
= dimK HomG (V K, W K).
(b) (Harder) Show that, if k is infinite and V K
= W K, then V
= W . Hint: Youll want
the following lemma, which you may use without proof: If k is an infinite field, and f (x1 , x2 , . . . , xn )
is a nonzero polynomial with coefficients in k, then there is a point (a1 , a2 , . . . , an ) k n such that
f (a1 , a2 , . . . , an ) 6= 0.
The equations defining HomG (V, W ) as a subspace of Hom(V, W ) simply say that is in
HomG (V, W ) if V (g) = W (g) for each g G. The exact same equations define HomG (V
K, W K) as a subspace of Hom(V K, W K). The same linear equations, considered over
a larger field, have the same dimensional space of solutions. (One way to see this is to see that
enlarging the ground field will not effect the row reduction process.) Indeed, if e1 , e2 , . . . , ed is a
basis for HomG (V, W ) as a k vector space, then it is also a basis for HomG (V K, W K) as a K
vector space.
Choose a basis e1 , e2 , . . . , ed for HomG (V, W )P
as above. Then det(x1 e1 + x2 e2 + + xd ed )
is a polynomial in (x1 , x2 , . . . , xd ). The element
xi ei is an isomorphism between V and W if
and only if this polynomial is nonzero at (x1 , . . . , xd ). So V
= W if and only if this polynomial is
nonzero for some (x1 , . . . , xd ) k d , if and only if this polynomial is not the zero polynomial. But
we are talking about the same polynomial whether we work over k or K, we can reverse everything
and see that these conditions are also equivalent to V K
= W K.