McKay Centralizer Algebras

International audience For a finite subgroup G of the special unitary group SU2, we study the centralizer algebra Zk(G) = EndG(V⊗k) of G acting on the k-fold tensor product of its defining representation V = C2. The McKay corre- spondence relates the representation theory of these groups to an associated affine Dynkin diagram, and we use this connection to study the structure and representation theory of Zk(G) via the combinatorics of the Dynkin diagram. When G equals the binary tetrahedral, octahedral, or icosahedral group, we exhibit remarkable connections between Zk (G) and the Martin-Jones set partition algebras.

Shell Tableaux: A Set Partition Analog of Vacillating Tableaux

Schur–Weyl duality is a fundamental framework in combinatorial representation theory. It intimately relates the irreducible representations of a group to the irreducible representations of its centralizer algebra. We investigate the analog of Schur–Weyl duality for the group of unipotent upper triangular matrices over a finite field. In this case, the character theory of these upper triangular matrices is "wild" or unattainable. Thus we employ a generalization, known as supercharacter theory, that creates a striking variation on the character theory of the symmetric group with combinatorics built from set partitions. In this paper, we present a combinatorial formula for calculating a restriction and induction of supercharacters based on statistics of set partitions and seashell inspired diagrams. We use these formulas to create a graph that encodes the decomposition of a tensor space, and develop an analog of Young tableaux, known as shell tableaux, to index paths in this graph.

The centralizer of a subgroup in a group algebra

Let F be an algebraically closed field, G be a finite group and H be a subgroup of G. We answer several questions about the centralizer algebra FGH. Among these, we provide examples to show that•the centre Z(FGH) can be larger than the F-algebra generated by Z(FG) and Z(FH),•FGH can have primitive central idempotents that are not of the form ef, where e and f are primitive central idempotents of FG and FH respectively,•it is not always true that the simple FGH-modules are the same as the non-zero FGH-modules HomFH(S, T ↓ H), where S and T are simple FH and FG-modules, respectively.

Traceless tensors and invariants

For G a classical group of type Bn, Cn or Dn defined over an algebraically closed field (of characteristic other than two if G is a special orthogonal group), we show that the centralizer algebra of G on the space of endomorphisms of the module of traceless tensors Wr is naturally isomorphic to the group algebra of the symmetric group Sr if r[les ]n (for G of type Bn or Cn) or if r<n (for G of type Dn). This extends a characteristic zero result of Brauer and Weyl and recovers some of the related characteristic free results that De Concini and Strickland obtained for G of type Cn.