0000000000315957
AUTHOR
Norman Blackburn
Elements of General Representation Theory
In Chapter V, classical representation theory was studied. This is the theory of the group-ring KG and the KG-modules, where K is an algebraically closed field of characteristic 0. (Many theorems remain valid under the hypothesis that K is algebraically closed and that char K does not divide the order of G). In this case, KG is semisimple and all KG-modules are completely reducible. For many purposes it is therefore sufficient to handle the irreducible representations.
Local Finite Group Theory
The word local is used in finite group-theory in relation to a fixed prime p; thus properties of p-subgroups or their normalisers, for example, are regarded as local. In the case of a soluble group, then, everything is local, but an insoluble group also has global aspects. Now the local behaviour influences the global, that is, there are theorems in which the hypothesis involves only p-subgroups and their normalisers, but the conclusion involves the whole group. This chapter is an introduction to theorems of this sort.
Linear Methods in Nilpotent Groups
The subject of this chapter is commutator calculation. It will be recalled that the commutator [x, y] of two elements x, y of a group is defined by the relation $$ [x,y] = {{x}^{{ - 1}}}{{y}^{{ - 1}}}xy. $$ . We then have $$ [xy,z] = {{[x,z]}^{y}}[y,z],\quad [x,yz] = [x,z]{{[x,y]}^{z}}. $$ . These relations are rather similar to the conditions for bilinearity of forms, and there are a number of ways of formalizing this similarity. Once this is done, commutator calculations can be done by linear methods. Several examples of theorems proved by this method will be given in this chapter.
Multiply Transitive Permutation Groups
Since the beginnings of finite group theory, the multiply transitive permutation groups have exercised a certain fascination. This is mainly due to the fact that apart from the symmetric and alternating groups not many of them were known. Only very recently final results about multiply transitive permutation groups have been proved, using the classification of all finite simple groups (see 7.5).