Real constituents of permutation characters (Q2153315)

For an irreducible complex character \(\chi\) of \(G\), the Frobenius Schur indicator is defined as \[ {\nu _2}(\chi ) = \frac{1}{{|G|}}{\sum\limits_{g \in G} {\chi ({g^2})} }, \] and has possible values of \(-1,0\) or \(1\). Moreover, \(\chi\) is real if \({\nu _2}(\chi ) \ne 0\). A real character \(\chi\) is of \(+\) or \(-\) type according to whether \({\nu _2}(\chi )\) is positive or negative. In the paper under review, the authors prove that \((1_H)^G\), where \(H \le G\), has a unique real-valued \(+\) type irreducible constituent if and only if \([G {:} core_G(H)]\) is odd (Theorem A). This is a generalization of Burnside's theorem which implies that a finite group of odd order has no nontrivial irreducible real valued characters. They also prove some interesting results on the constituents of permutation characters of a primitive groups, using the Classification of Finite Simple Groups. Moreover, they give a new characterization of the 2-closed finite groups using odd-order real elements of the group. In particular, using the Classification of Finite Simple Groups, the authors prove that a Sylow \(2\)-subgroup \(P\) of \(G\) is normal in \(G\) if and only if every real element of odd order of \(G\) normalizes a \(G\)-conjugate of \(P\). Equivalently, there are no nontrivial real elements in \(G\) of odd order.