Blocks, character values, and centralizers of elements in solvable groups (Q1204448)

Let \(G\) be a finite group and \(p\) a prime. Let \(\chi \in \text{Irr}(G)\) belong to a \(p\)-block of defect zero. Suppose that \(g \in G\) and that \(| Z(C_ G(g))|\) is divisible by \(p\). It was asked by M. Broué whether these conditions force \(\chi(g) = 0\). The answer to Broué's question is negative in general. The main result of the paper is that for solvable groups Broué's question has an affirmative answer. Theorem A. Let \(G\) be a solvable group and suppose \(\chi \in \text{Irr}(G)\) lies in a \(p\)-block with defect group \(D\). Suppose \(g \in G\) and write \(Q = O_ p(C_ G(g))\). Then \(\chi(g) = 0\) unless \(Q\) is \(G\)-conjugate to a subgroup of \(D\). Two other results are obtained in the paper. Theorem C. Let \(\chi \in \text{Irr}(G)\) and suppose \(\chi(x) \neq 0\) for some element \(x \in G\). Fix a set \(\pi\) of primes and let \(Q = O_ \pi(C_ G(x))\). Then \(\chi = \eta^ G\) for some \(\eta \in \text{Irr}(H)\), for some subgroup \(H \subseteq G\) with \(\langle x\rangle Q \subseteq H\). Also, \(\eta(x) \neq 0\) and the restriction \(\eta_ N\) is homogeneous for every solvable \(\pi'\)- group \(N \triangleleft H\). Theorem D. Let \(Q\) act on \(N\), where \((| Q|, | N|) = 1\) and \(N\) is solvable, and suppose \(x \in N\) satisfies \(C_ N(x) \subseteq C_ N(Q)\). Then every \(\theta \in \text{Irr}(N)\) which is not \(Q\)-invariant vanishes at \(x\).