Some uses of class algebra constants (Q795915)

Let \(\{y_ i|\) 1\(\leq i\leq m\}\) be a full set of representatives for the conjugacy classes of the finite group G. Let \(K_ i\) be the class sum of the conjugacy class \(y^ G_ i\) in the center Z\({\mathbb{C}}G\) of the complex group algebra \({\mathbb{C}}G\) of G. Let \(n_ 1,n_ 2,...,n_ m\) be non-negative integers. Then in Lemma 1 for any \(x\in G\), the coefficient of x in the product \(\prod^{m}_{i=1}(K_ i)^{n_ i}\) is given by an explicit character theoretic formula. The main part of this article is concerned with group theoretic consequences of this formula. Let \(a\neq 1\) be an element of G and \(1\neq b\in<a^ g| g\in G>\). In Corollary 3 it is shown that b is expressible as a product of s-1 or fewer conjugates of a, if there are s irreducible characters \(\chi\) of G with \(\chi\) (b)\(\neq 0.\) Let P be a finite p-group with center Z(P). If \(| P:Z(P)| =p^ k\), then by Corollary 7 each element of P' is a product of [k/2] commutators. In section 4 the author studies groups G with a cyclic Sylow p-subgroup. Lemma 9 gives sufficient conditions for the non-exceptional characters of the principal p-block B of G to be rational-valued. In Theorem 10 the author applies this result to classical groups. He finally shows that Theorem 10 may be used to prove that if a finite classical group H defined on a finite field with q elements such that its layer E(H) is quasi-simple and has a cyclic Sylow p-subgroup for some prime \(p\nmid q\), then the non-exceptional characters in the principal p-block of E(H)/Z(E(H)) are all rational-valued.