On Loewy lengths of blocks

We give a lower bound on the Loewy length of a p-block of a finite group in terms of its defect. We then discuss blocks with small Loewy length. Since blocks with Loewy length at most 3 are known, we focus on blocks of Loewy length 4 and provide a relatively short list of possible defect groups. It turns out that p-solvable groups can only admit blocks of Loewy length 4 if p=2. However, we find (principal) blocks of simple groups with Loewy length 4 and defect 1 for all p ≡ 1 (mod 3). We also consider sporadic, symmetric and simple groups of Lie type in defining characteristic. Finally, we give stronger conditions on the Loewy length of a block with cyclic defect group in terms of its Brauer tree.

LIFTS OF PARTIAL CHARACTERS WITH CYCLIC DEFECT GROUPS

We count the number of lifts of an irreducible π-partial character that lies in a block with a cyclic defect group.