English

Brauer's problem 21 for principal blocks

Group Theory 2023-10-03 v1 Representation Theory

Abstract

Problem 21 of Brauer's list of problems from 1963 asks whether for any positive integer k there are finitely many isomorphism classes of groups that occur as the defect group of a block with k irreducible characters. We solve this problem for principal blocks. Another long-standing open problem (from 1982) in this area asks whether the defect group of a block with 3 irreducible characters is necessarily the cyclic group of order 3. In most cases we reduce this problem to a question on simple groups that is closely related to the recent solution of Brauer's height zero conjecture.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2310.00134,
  title  = {Brauer's problem 21 for principal blocks},
  author = {Alexander Moretó and Noelia Rizo and A. A. Schaeffer Fry},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2310.00134},
  year   = {2023}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-28T12:36:44.069Z