Weil representations of symplectic groups over non-principal rings. (Q2566494)

The author continues the study of Weil representations of symplectic groups over finite commutative local rings of odd characteristic. In [\textit{G. Cliff, D. McNeilly, F. Szechtman}, J. Lond. Math. Soc., II. Ser. 62, No. 2, 423-436 (2000; Zbl 1037.20044)] the emphasis was on the case when \(R\) is a principal ring. In that case the Weil representation can be described in a recursive manner, putting strong restrictions on the characters that may occur. The author now shows that this recursive description always fails if the ring is not principal. He also constructs examples showing how badly it may fail: Given any finite commutative quasi-Frobenius local ring \(R_0\) of odd characteristic and any irreducible complex character \(\chi\) of \(\text{Sp}(2n,R_0)\), there is a local ring \(R\) with quotient \(R_0\) and a Weil module of \(\text{Sp}(2n,R)\) that contains the inflation of \(\chi\). On the other hand one finds subrepresentations that do admit a description in terms of Weil modules of quotient groups.