The composition factors of \(F_ p[x_ 1, x_ 2, x_ 3]\) as a \(GL(3, p)\)-module (Q1188148)

Let \(GL(n,p)\) denote the general linear group over the prime field \(F_ p\), and let \(S_ d\) denote the right \(GL(n,p)\)-module consisting of all homogeneous polynomials of degree \(d\) in \(n\) variables \(x_ 1,x_ 2,\dots,x_ n\) over \(F_ p\). We wish to determine the simple composition factors of \(S_ d\). Unfortunately, satisfactory models for all the simple \(GL(n,p)\) modules themselves are not known. There are \(p^{m-1}(p-1)\) of these simple modules, up to isomorphism, and all of them are known to occur in the symmetric algebra \(S = \sum^ \infty_ 0 S_ d\). The general problem is therefore a very difficult one in our present state of knowledge. The purpose of this paper is to offer a solution to this problem in the case \(n = 3\). This extends the work of \textit{D. Carlisle}, who calculated in his Manchester thesis the occurrences of all the 1-dimensional modules, and developed a method for dealing with the general case.