A note on a theorem of Wada (Q1090758)

Let F be an algebraically closed field of prime characteristic p, and let G be a finite group. Let B be a block of the group algebra FG, considered as an ideal in FG. Denote by m(B) the number of indecomposable direct summands of B under the conjugation action of a Sylow p-subgroup of G. The author proves that \(| Q:D| k(B)\leq m(B)\) where D is a defect group of B, Q is a Sylow p-subgroup of \(DC_ G(D)\) and k(B) denotes the number of irreducible complex characters associated with B. This generalizes to arbitrary blocks a result by \textit{T. Wada} [ibid. 14, 149- 154 (1985; Zbl 0571.20008)] who had considered blocks whose defect groups are central in a Sylow p-subgroup.