On semisimple deformations of local semidihedral algebras (Q1345824)

A well-known conjecture of J. D. Donald and F. J. Flanigan states that the group algebra \(KG\), where \(K\) is an algebraically closed field of characteristic \(p\) dividing the order of \(G\), can be deformed into a semisimple algebra. Moreover, M. Schaps has formulated a stronger version of this conjecture, namely, there is a semisimple deformation in which the matrix blocks have the same size as in characteristic zero. This paper deals with local algebras of semidihedral type which have a generator whose square is zero. Semisimple deformations for these algebras are constructed, and in particular, it is proved that the stronger version of the Donald-Flanigan conjecture holds for semidihedral 2-groups. The author continues in this paper the work done by her and \textit{M. Schaps} [Isr. Math. Conf. Proc. 7, 25-44 (1993)]. As there, methods of representation theory are employed.