It is well-known that the value of the Frobenius-Schur indicator $|G|^{-1} \sum_{g\in G} χ(g^2)=\pm1$ of a real irreducible representation of a finite group $G$ determines which of the two types of real representations it belongs to, i.e. whether it is strictly real or quaternionic. We study the extension to the case when a homomorphism $φ:G\to \mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z}$ gives the group algebra $\mathbb{C}[G]$ the structure of a superalgebra. Namely, we construct of a super version of the Frobenius-Schur indicator whose value for a real irreducible super representation is an eighth root of unity, distinguishing which of the eight types of irreducible real super representations described in [Wall1964] it belongs to. We also discuss its significance in the context of two-dimensional finite-group gauge theories on pin$^-$ surfaces.
We introduce formulae of Frobenius-Schur indicators of simple objects of Tambara-Yamagami categories. By using techniques of the Fourier transform on finite abelian groups, we study some arithmetic properties of indicators.
The quantum Frobenius map and it splitting are shown to descend to corresponding maps for generalized $q$-Schur algebras at a root of unity. We also define analogs of $q$-Schur algebras for any affine algebra, and prove the corresponding results for them.
Mason and Ng have given a generalization to semisimple quasi-Hopf algebras of Linchenko and Montgomery's generalization to semisimple Hopf algebras of the classical Frobenius-Schur theorem for group representations. We give a simplified proof, in particular a somewhat conceptual derivation of the appropriate form of the Frobenius-Schur indicator that indicates if and in which of two possible fashions a given simple module is self-dual.
We introduce the Frobenius-Schur indicator for categories with duality to give a category-theoretical understanding of various generalizations of the Frobenius-Schur theorem, including that for semisimple quasi-Hopf algebras, weak Hopf C*-algebras and association schemes. Our framework also clarifies a mechanism how the `twisted' theory arises from the ordinary case. As a demonstration, we give a twisted Frobenius-Schur theorem for semisimple quasi-Hopf algebras. We also give several applications to the quantum SL_2.
Let $p$ be an odd prime and let $B$ be a $p$-block of a finite group which has cyclic defect groups. We show that all exceptional characters in $B$ have the same Frobenius-Schur indicators. Moreover the common indicator can be computed, using the canonical character of $B$. We also investigate the Frobenius-Schur indicators of the non-exceptional characters in $B$. For a finite group which has cyclic Sylow $p$-subgroups, we show that the number of irreducible characters with Frobenius-Schur indicator $-1$ is greater than or equal to the number of conjugacy classes of weakly real $p$-elements i…
The classical Frobenius-Schur indicators for finite groups are character sums defined for any representation and any integer m greater or equal to 2. In the familiar case m=2, the Frobenius-Schur indicator partitions the irreducible representations over the complex numbers into real, complex, and quaternionic representations. In recent years, several generalizations of these invariants have been introduced. Bump and Ginzburg, building on earlier work of Mackey, have defined versions of these indicators which are twisted by an automorphism of the group. In another direction, Linchenko and Montg…
In this note we prove a generalization of the Frobenius-Schur theorem for finite groups for the case of semisimple Hopf algebra over an algebraically closed field of characteristic 0. A similar result holds in characteristic $p > 2$ if the Hopf algebra is also cosemisimple. In fact we show a more general version for any finite-dimensional semisimple algebra with an involution.
We generalize the Frobenius-Schur theorem to $C^*$-categories. From this category-theoretical point of view, we introduce the notions of real, complex and quaternionic representations of Hopf $C^*$-algebras. Based on these definitions, we give another type of the Hopf-algebraic analogue of the Frobenius-Schur theorem, originally due to Linchenko and Montgomery. Also given are similar results for weak Hopf $C^*$-algebras, table algebras and compact quantum groups.
Classically, the exponent of a group is the least common multiple of the orders of its elements. This notion was generalized by Etingof and Gelaki to the context of Hopf algebras. Kashina, Sommerhauser and Zhu later observed that there is a strong connection between exponents and Frobenius-Schur indicators. In this paper, we introduce the notion of twisted exponents and show that there is a similar relationship between the twisted exponent and the twisted Frobenius-Schur indicators defined in previous work of the authors. In particular, we exhibit a new formula for the twisted Frobenius-Schur …
We introduce and study a family of inhomogeneous symmetric functions which we call the Frobenius-Schur functions. These functions are indexed by partitions and differ from the conventional Schur functions in lower terms only. Our interest in these new functions comes from the fact that they provide an explicit expression for the dimension of a skew Young diagram in terms of the Frobenius coordinates. This is important for the asymptotic theory of the characters of the symmetric groups. Our main result is a surprisingly simple determinantal expression of the Frobenius-Schur functions in terms o…
Let $W$ be a finite Coxeter group. It is well-known that the number of involutions in $W$ is equal to the sum of the degrees of the irreducible characters of $W$. Following a suggestion of Lusztig, we show that this equality is compatible with the decomposition of $W$ into Kazhdan--Lusztig cells. The proof uses a generalisation of the Frobenius--Schur indicator to symmetric algebras, which may be of independent interest.
Let $W$ be a finite Weyl group and $\sg$ be a non-trivial graph automorphism of $W$. We show a remarkable relation between the $\sg$-twisted involution module for $W$ and the Frobenius--Schur indicators of the unipotent characters of a corresponding twisted finite group of Lie type. This extends earlier results of Lusztig-Vogan for the untwisted case and then allows us to state a general result valid for any finite group of Lie type. Inspired by recent work of Marberg, we also formally define Frobenius--Schur indicators for "unipotent characters" of twisted dihedral groups.
We prove that the finite exceptional groups $F_4(q)$, $E_7(q)_{\mathrm{ad}}$, and $E_8(q)$ have no irreducible complex characters with Frobenius-Schur indicator $-1$, and we list exactly which irreducible characters of these groups are not real-valued. We also give an exact list of complex irreducible characters of the Ree groups ${^2 F_4}(q^2)$ which are not real-valued, and we show the only character of this group which has Frobenius-Schur indicator $-1$ is the cuspidal unipotent character $χ_{21}$ found by M. Geck.
We prove that Alvis-Curtis duality preserves the Frobenius-Schur indicators of characters of connected reductive groups of Lie type with connected center. This allows us to extend a result of D. Prasad which relates the Frobenius-Schur indicator of a regular real-valued character to its central character. We apply these results to compute the Frobenius-Schur indicators of certain real-valued, irreducible, Frobenius-invariant Deligne-Lusztig characters, and the Frobenius-Schur indicators of real-valued regular and semisimple characters of finite unitary groups.
We study the higher Frobenius-Schur indicators of modules over semisimple Hopf algebras, and relate them to other invariants as the exponent, the order, and the index. We prove various divisibility and integrality results for these invariants. In particular, we prove a version of Cauchy's theorem for semisimple Hopf algebras. Furthermore, we give some examples that illustrate the general theory.
Let $H$ be a semisimple Hopf algebra over an algebraically closed field $\mathbbm{k}$ of characteristic $p>\dim_{\mathbbm{k}}(H)^{1/2}$. We show that the antipode $S$ of $H$ satisfies the equality $S^2(h)=\mathbf{u}h\mathbf{u}^{-1}$, where $h\in H$, $\mathbf{u}=S(Λ_{(2)})Λ_{(1)}$ and $Λ$ is a nonzero integral of $H$. The formula of $S^2$ enables us to define higher Frobenius-Schur indicators for the Hopf algebra $H$. This generalizes the notions of higher Frobenius-Schur indicators from the case of characteristic 0 to the case of characteristic $p>\dim_{\mathbbm{k}}(H)^{1/2}$. These indicators…
Ng and Schauenburg generalized higher Frobenius-Schur indicators to pivotal fusion categories and showed that these indicators may be computed utilizing the modular data of the Drinfel'd center of the given category. We consider two classes of fusion categories generated by a single non-invertible simple object: near groups, those fusion categories with one non-invertible simple object, and Haagerup-Izumi categories, those with one non-invertible simple object for every invertible object. Examples of both types arise as representations of finite or quantum groups or as Jones standard invariant…
Let g be a finite dimensional complex semisimple Lie algebra, and let V be a finite dimensional represenation of g. We give a closed formula for the mth Frobenius-Schur indicator, m>1, of V in representation-theoretic terms. We deduce that the indicators take integer values, and that for a large enough m, the mth indicator of V equals the dimension of the zero weight space of V. For the classical Lie algebras sl(n), so(2n), so(2n+1) and sp(2n), this is the case for m greater or equal to 2n-1, 4n-5, 4n-3 and 2n+1, respectively.
The present paper is a detailed version of math/0003031. We introduce and study a new basis in the algebra of symmetric functions. The elements of this basis are called the Frobenius-Schur functions (FS-functions, for short). Our main motivation for studying the FS-functions is the fact that they enter a formula expressing the combinatorial dimension of a skew Young diagram in terms of the Frobenius coordinates. This formula plays a key role in the asymptotic character theory of the symmetric groups. The FS-functions are inhomogeneous, and their top homogeneous components coincide with the con…
We define total Frobenius-Schur indicator for each object in a spherical fusion category $C$ as a certain canonical sum of its higher indicators. The total indicators are invariants of spherical fusion categories. If $C$ is the representation category of a semisimple quasi-Hopf algebra $H$, we prove that the total indicators are non-negative integers which satisfy a certain divisibility condition. In addition, if $H$ is a Hopf algebra, then all the total indicators are positive. Consequently, the positivity of total indicators is a necessary condition for a quasi-Hopf algebra being gauge equiv…
If G is a finite group and k is a field, there is a natural construction of a Hopf algebra over k associated to G, the Drinfel'd double D(G). We prove that if G is any finite real reflection group with Drinfel'd double D(G) over an algebraically closed field k of characteristic not 2, then every simple D(G)-module has Frobenius-Schur indicator +1. This generalizes the classical results for modules over the group itself. We also prove some new results about Weyl groups. In particular, we prove that any abelian subgroup is inverted by some involution. Also, if E is any elementary abelian 2-subgr…
Let B be a real 2-block of a finite group G. Then B has a real defect class. Let g be an element of such a class. A defect couple of B is (D,E), where E is a Sylow 2-subgroup of the extended centralizer C^*(g) of g, and D is the intersection of E with the centralizer C(g). It is known that (D,E) is uniquely determined up to G-conjugacy. We show that (D,E) determines which B-subpairs are real. We also outline how (D,E) influences the vertices of components of the G-permutation module corresponding to the conjugation action of G on its involutions. We apply these methods to enumerate the Frobeni…
In this paper we show that for an important class of non-trivial Hopf algebras, the Schur indicator is a computable invariant. The Hopf algebras we consider are all abelian extensions; as a special case, they include the Drinfeld double of a group algebra. In addition to finding a general formula for the indicator, we also study when it is always positive. In particular we prove that the indicator is always positive for the Drinfeld double of the symmetric group, generalizing the classical result for the symmetric group itself.
In this paper, we obtain a canonical central element $ν_H$ for each semi-simple quasi-Hopf algebra $H$ over any field $k$ and prove that $ν_H$ is invariant under gauge transformations. We show that if $k$ is algebraically closed of characteristic zero then for any irreducible representation of $H$ which affords the character $χ$, $χ(ν_H)$ takes only the values 0, 1 or -1, moreover if $H$ is a Hopf algebra or a twisted quantum double of a finite group then $χ(ν_H)$ is the corresponding Frobenius-Schur Indicator. We also prove an analog of a Theorem of Larson-Radford for split semi-simple quasi-…
We present a new approach to calculating the higher Frobenius-Schur indicators for the simple modules over the Drinfeld double of a finite group. In contrast to the formula by Kashina-Sommerh{ä}user-Zhu that involves a sum over all group elements satisfying a certain condition, our formula operates on the level of conjugacy classes and character tables. It can be implemented in the computer algebra system GAP, efficiently enough to deal, on a laptop, with symmetric groups up to $S_{18}$ (providing further evidence that indicators are non-negative in this case) or simple groups of order up to $…
For each finite, irreducible Coxeter system $(W,S)$, Lusztig has associated a set of "unipotent characters" $\Uch(W)$. There is also a notion of a "Fourier transform" on the space of functions $\Uch(W) \to \RR$, due to Lusztig for Weyl groups and to Broué, Lusztig, and Malle in the remaining cases. This paper concerns a certain $W$-representation $\varrho_{W}$ in the vector space generated by the involutions of $W$. Our main result is to show that the irreducible multiplicities of $\varrho_W$ are given by the Fourier transform of a unique function $ε: \Uch(W) \to \{-1,0,1\}$, which for various…
We give some applications of a Hopf algebra constructed from a group acting on another Hopf algebra A as Hopf automorphisms, namely Molnar's smash coproduct Hopf algebra. We find connections between the exponent and Frobenius-Schur indicators of a smash coproduct and the twisted exponents and twisted Frobenius-Schur indicators of the original Hopf algebra A. We study the category of modules of the smash coproduct.
We prove that the number of irreducible real characters in a nilpotent block of a finite group is locally determined. We further conjecture that the Frobenius-Schur indicators of those characters can be computed for p=2 in terms of the extended defect group. We derive this from a more general conjecture on the Frobenius-Schur indicator of projective indecomposable characters of 2-blocks with one simple module. This extends results of Murray on 2-blocks with cyclic and dihedral defect groups.
We study the representations and their Frobenius-Schur indicators of two semisimple Hopf algebras related to the symmetric group $S_n$, namely the bismash products $H_n = k^{C_n}# kS_{n-1}$ and its dual $J_n = k^{S_{n-1}}# kC_n = (H_n)^*,$ where $k$ is an algebraically closed field of characteristic 0. Both algebras are constructed using the standard representation of $S_n$ as a factorizable group, that is $S_n = S_{n-1}C_n = C_nS_{n-1}$. We prove that for $H_n$, the indicators of all simple modules are +1. For the dual Hopf algebra $J_n = k^{S_{n_1}}# kC_n$, the indicator can have values eith…
We prove a super Frobenius formula for the characters of the cyclotomic Hecke algebras by applying the super Schur-Weyl reciprocity between the quantum superalgebras and cyclotomic Hecke algebras, which is a super analogue of the Frobenius formula in (T. Shoji, J. Algebra 226: 2000, 818--856) and a cyclotomic analogue of the super Frobeinus formula in (H. Mitsuhashi, Linear Multilinear Algebra 58: 2010, 941--955).
We compute generating functions for the sum of the real-valued character degrees of the finite general linear and unitary groups, through symmetric function computations. For the finite general linear group, we get a new combinatorial proof that every real-valued character has Frobenius-Schur indicator 1, and we obtain some q-series identities. For the finite unitary group, we expand the generating function in terms of values of Hall-Littlewood functions, and we obtain combinatorial expressions for the character degree sums of real-valued characters with Frobenius-Schur indicator 1 or -1.
We classify pointed fusion categories C(G, $ω$) up to Morita equivalence for 1 < |G| < 32. Among them, the cases |G| = 2 3 , 2 4 and 3 3 are emphasized. Although the equivalence classes of such categories are not distinguished by their Frobenius-Schur indicators, their categorical Morita equivalence classes are distinguished by the set of the indicators and ribbon twists of their Drinfeld centers. In particular, the modular data are a complete invariant for the modular categories Z(C(G, $ω$)) for |G[< 32. We use the computer algebra package GAP and present codes for treating complex-valued gro…
Let A_k denote the twisted group algebra of the symmetric group S_k, whose representations correspond to the nonlinear projective representations of S_k. We establish a duality relation between A_k and a Lie superalgebra q(n), sometimes called the ``queer'' Lie superalgebra. This duality clarifies Schur's formula, in the sense that the Schur-Weyl duality clarifies Frobenius' formula.
We show that any complex (respectively real) representation of finite group naturally generates a open-closed (respectively Klein) topological field theory over complex numbers. We relate the 1-point correlator for the projective plane in this theory with the Frobenius-Schur indicator on the representation. We relate any complex simple Klein TFT to a real division ring.
By computing Frobenius-Schur indicators of modules of certain weak Hopf algebras, we give a formula for the number of involutions in symmetric groups, which are contained in a given coset with respect to a given Young subgroup.
In the first part of this paper we present explicit formulas for primitive idempotents in arbitrary Frobenius algebras using the entries of representing matrices coming from projective indecomposable modules with respect to a certain choice of basis. The proofs use a generalisation of the well known Frobenius-Schur relations for semisimple algebras. The second part of this paper considers $\Oh$-free $\Oh$-algebras of finite $\Oh$-rank over a discrete valuation ring $\Oh$ and their decomposition maps under modular reduction modulo the maximal ideal of $\Oh$, thereby studying the modular represe…
The representation theory of the symmetric groups is intimately related to geometry, algebraic combinatorics, and Lie theory. The spin representation theory of the symmetric groups was originally developed by Schur. In these lecture notes, we present a coherent account of the spin counterparts of several classical constructions such as the Frobenius characteristic map, Schur duality, the coinvariant algebra, Kostka polynomials, and Young's seminormal form.
We recall the relation between Zeta function representation of groups and two-dimensional topological Yang-Mills theory through Mednikh formula. We prove various generalisations of Mednikh formulas and define generalization of Zeta functions representations of groups. We compute some of these functions in the case of the finite group $GL(2, {\mathbb F}_q)$ and $PGL(2,{\mathbb F}_q).$ We recall the table characters of these groups for any $q$, compute the Frobenius-Schur indicator of their irreducible representations and give the explicit structure of their fusion rings
We introduce Brauer characters for representations of the bismash products of groups in characteristic p > 0, p not 2 and study their properties analogous to the classical case of finite groups. We then use our results to extend to bismash products a theorem of Thompson on lifting Frobenius-Schur indicators from characteristic p to characteristic 0
We compute higher Frobenius-Schur indicators of Radford algebras in positive characteristic and find minimal polynomials of these linearly recursive sequences. As a result of Kashina, Montgomery and Ng, we obtain gauge invariants for the monoidal categories of representations of Radford algebras.
We consider the Chevalley involution in the context of real reductive groups. We show that if G(R) is the real points of a connected reductive group, there is an involution, unique up to conjugacy by G(R), taking any semisimple element to a conjugate of its inverse. As applications we give a condition for every irreducible representation of G(R) to be self-dual, and to the Frobenius Schur indicator for such groups.
It is well known that the number of real irreducible characters of a finite group G coincides with the number of real conjugacy classes of G. Richard Brauer has asked if the number of irreducible characters with Frobenius-Schur indicator 1 can also be expressed in group theoretical terms. We show that this can done by counting solutions of $g_1^2\ldots g_n^2=1$ with $g_1,\ldots,g_n\in G$.
We prove that when $q$ is a power of $2$, every complex irreducible representation of $\mathrm{Sp}(2n, \mathbb{F}_q)$ may be defined over the real numbers, that is, all Frobenius-Schur indicators are 1. We also obtain a generating function for the sum of the degrees of the unipotent characters of $\mathrm{Sp}(2n, \mathbb{F}_q)$, or of $\mathrm{SO}(2n+1, \mathbb{F}_q)$, for any prime power $q$.
We study the numbers of involutions and their relation to Frobenius-Schur indicators in the groups $\mathrm{SO}^{\pm}(n,q)$ and $Ω^{\pm}(n,q)$. Our point of view for this study comes from two motivations. The first is the conjecture that a finite simple group $G$ is strongly real (all elements are conjugate to their inverses by an involution) if and only if it is totally orthogonal (all Frobenius-Schur indicators are 1), and we are able to show this holds for all finite simple groups $G$ other than the groups $\mathrm{Sp}(2n,q)$ with $q$ even or $Ω^{\pm}(4m,q)$ with $q$ even. We prove computat…
We investigate the spin-Brauer diagram algebra, denoted ${\bf SB}_n(δ)$, that arises from studying an analogous form of Schur-Weyl duality for the action of the pin group on ${\bf V}^{\otimes n} \otimes Δ$. Here ${\bf V}$ is the standard $N$-dimensional complex representation of ${\bf Pin}(N)$ and $Δ$ is the spin representation. When $δ= N$ is a positive integer, we define a surjective map ${\bf SB}_n(N) \twoheadrightarrow {\rm End}_{{\bf Pin}(N)}({\bf V}^{\otimes n} \otimes Δ)$ and show it is an isomorphism for $N \geq 2n$. We show ${\bf SB}_n(δ)$ is a cellular algebra and use cellularity to …
Let $G = {\rm U}(2m, {\mathbb F}_{q^2})$ be the finite unitary group, with $q$ the power of an odd prime $p$. We prove that the number of irreducible complex characters of $G$ with degree not divisible by $p$ and with Frobenius-Schur indicator -1 is $q^{m-1}$. We also obtain a combinatorial formula for the value of any character of ${\rm U}(n, {\mathbb F}_{q^2})$ at any central element, using the characteristic map of the finite unitary group.
We develop a functorial theory of spinor and oscillator representations parallel to the theory of Schur functors for general linear groups. This continues our work on developing orthogonal and symplectic analogues of Schur functors. As such, there are a few main points in common. We define a category of representations of what might be thought of as the infinite rank pin and metaplectic groups, and give three models of this category in terms of: multilinear algebra, diagram categories, and twisted Lie algebras. We also define specialization functors to the finite rank groups and calculate the …
We prove that all irreducible representations of the bismash product $H = \mathbb{k} ^G \# \mathbb{k} S_{n-k}$ have Frobenius-Schur indicators +1 or 0 where $\mathbb{k}$ is an algebraically closed field and $S_n = S_{n-k}\cdot G$ is an exact factorization. Moreover, we have an description of those simple modules which are not self-dual. We prove some new results for bismash products in general and make conjectures about bismash products that arise from other exact factorizations of $S_n$.
Let $G$ be a quasi-split tamely ramified connected reductive group defined over a $p$-adic field $F$. We show that if $-1$ is in the $F$-points of the absolute Weyl group of $G$, then self-dual supercuspidal representations of $G(F)$ exist. Now assume further that $G$ is unramified and that the center of $G$ is connected. Let $π$ be a generic self-dual depth-zero regular supercuspidal representation of $G(F)$. We show that the Frobenius-Schur indicator of $π$ is given by the sign by which a certain distinguished element of the center of $G(F)$ of order two acts on $π$.
We pursue an analogy of the Schur-Weyl reciprocity for the spinor groups and pick up the irreducible spin representations in the tensor space $Δ\textstyle{\bigotimes \bigotimes^k V}$. Here $Δ$ is the fundamental representation of $Pin(N)$ and $V$ is the natural (vector) representation of the orthogonal group O(N). We consider the centralizer algebra $\mathbf{CP_k} = Pin(N)(Δ\textstyle{\bigotimes \bigotimes^k V})$ for $Pin(N)$, the double covering group of O(N) and define two kinds of linear basis in $\mathbf{CP_k}$ (one comes from invariant theory and the other from representation theory), bot…
We prove two results about quantum doubles of finite groups over the complex field. The first result is the integrality theorem for higher Frobenius-Schur indicators for wreath product groups S_N#A^N, where A is a finite abelian group. A proof of this result for A=1 appears in arXiv:1208.4153. The second result is a lower bound for the largest possible number of irreducible representations of the quantum double of a finite group with at most n conjugacy classes. This answers a question asked to me by Eric Rowell.
