Generalized permutation characters of solvable groups (Q1078315)

Let \(\chi\) be an irreducible complex character of the finite group G and \(\sigma\in Aut(G)\). Write \(sp(\chi)\) for the sum of the distinct Galois conjugates of \(\chi\) ; here a Galois conjugate \(\chi^{\sigma}\) is the irreducible character of G determined by \((\chi^{\sigma})(g) = (\chi(g))^{\sigma}\). Define P(G) as the set of integral linear combinations of ordinary permutation characters of G. The following is a theorem by E. Artin: Let \(\chi\in Irr(G)\). Then \(| G| \cdot sp(\chi)\in P(G)\). Therefore there is a least positive integer \(n(\chi)\) such that \(n(\chi)sp(\chi)\in P(G).\) The main bulk of this paper is devoted to the proof of the following theorems. (A) Let G be solvable and \(\chi\in Irr(G)\). Then the odd part of \(n(\chi)\) divides \(\chi(1).\) (B) Let G be solvable and \(\chi\in Irr(G)\). Assume \(\chi\) (1) is a power of 2. Then n(\(\chi)\) divides \(\chi(1).\) [In the author's paper in J. Algebra 93, 439-444 (1985; Zbl 0594.20006), it was shown that, for every \(2^ a\), \(a\geq 1\), there is a solvable group G and some \(\chi\in Irr(G)\) such that \(\chi\) (1) is odd and \(2^ a\) divides \(n(\chi)\).] The paper under review contains several substantial results on supersolvable groups, symplectic modules, cyclic normal subgroups, canonical characters, permutation characters, which makes it an important basic one to study.