Related papers: Minimal heights and defect groups with two charact…

Let $p$ be a prime. For $p=2$, the fields of values of the complex irreducible characters of finite groups whose degrees are not divisible by $p$ have been classified; for odd primes $p$, a conjectural classification has been proposed. In…

We consider $p$-blocks with abelian defect groups and in the first part prove a relationship between its Loewy length and that for blocks of normal subgroups of index $p$. Using this, we show that if $B$ is a $2$-block of a finite group…

In a recent article, G. Malle and G. Navarro conjectured that the $p$-blocks of a finite group all of whose height 0 characters have the same degree are exactly the nilpotent blocks defined by M. Brou\'e and L. Puig. In this paper, we check…

This paper is concerned with the representation theory of finite groups. According to Robinson, the truth of certain variants of Alperin's weight conjecture on the $p$-blocks of a finite group would imply some arithmetical conditions on the…

In this paper, we present a conjecture on the degree of unipotent characters in the cohomology of particular Deligne-Lusztig varieties for groups of Lie type, and derive consequences of it. These degrees are a necessary piece of data in the…

A classical theorem on character degrees states that if a finite group has fewer than four character degrees, then the group is solvable. We prove a corresponding result on character values by showing that if a finite group has fewer than…

Let $G$ be a finite group of order divisible by two distinct primes $p$ and $q$. We show that $G$ possesses a non-trivial irreducible character of degree not divisible by $p$ nor $q$ lying in both the principal $p$- and $q$-block whenever…

As a sequel to [CS13b], we verify the so-called inductive AM-condition introduced in [Sp12] for simple groups of type A and blocks with maximal defect. This is part of the program set up to verify the Alperin-McKay conjecture through its…

We restrict the possibilities for the character degrees of $p$-groups $G$ satisfying $|G:G'| = p^2$. E.g. if $G$ is of maximal class and has an irreducible character of degree $> p$, then it has such a character of degree at most…

We determine the numerical invariants of blocks with defect group D_{2^n}\times C_{2^m}, where D_{2^n} denotes a dihedral group of order 2^n and C_{2^m} denotes a cyclic group of order 2^m. This generalizes Brauer's results for m=0. As a…

Let $B$ be a $p$-block of a finite group, and set $m=$ $\sum \chi(1)^2$, the sum taken over all height zero characters of $B$. Motivated by a result of M. Isaacs characterising $p$-nilpotent finite groups in terms of character degrees, we…

The classical It\^o-Michler theorem on character degrees of finite groups asserts that if the degree of every complex irreducible character of a finite group $G$ is coprime to a given prime $p$, then $G$ has a normal Sylow $p$-subgroup. We…

Let k(B_0) and l(B_0) respectively denote the number of ordinary and p-Brauer irreducible characters in the principal block B_0 of a finite group G. We prove that, if k(B_0)-l(B_0)=1, then l(B_0)\geq p-1 or else p=11 and l(B_0)=9. This…

Let $p$ be an odd prime. We show that for sufficiently large $n$, every $2$-block of $\mathfrak{S}_n$ and $\mathfrak{A}_n$ contains an ordinary irreducible character of degree divisible by $p$. For almost all $2$-blocks of $\mathfrak{A}_n$,…

We propose and present evidence for a conjectural global-local phenomenon concerning the $p$-rationality of $p$-height-zero characters. Specifically, if $\chi$ is a height-zero character of a finite group $G$ and $D$ is a defect group of…

The longstanding Alperin weight conjecture and its blockwise version have been reduced to simple groups recently by Navarro, Tiep, Spaeth and Koshitani. Thus, to prove this conjecture, it suffices to verify the corresponding inductive…

Let $G$ be an arbitrary finite group. The McKay conjecture asserts that $G$ and the normaliser $N_G (P)$ of a Sylow $p$-subgroup $P$ in $G$ have the same number of characters of degree not divisible by $p$ (that is, of $p'$-degree). We…

We study the zero-sharing behavior among irreducible characters of a finite group. For symmetric groups $S_n$, it is proved that, with one exception, any two irreducible characters have at least one common zero. To further explore this…

In 1961, Solomon gave upper and lower bounds for the sum of all the entries in the character table of a finite group in terms of elementary properties of the group. In a different direction, we consider the ratio of the character table sum…

Given a generalized $e$-block $B$ of a symmetric group and an $e$-regular conjugacy class $C$, we study the number of irreducible characters in $B$ which do not vanish on $C$ and find lower bounds for it.