A `second orthogonality relation' for characters of Brauer algebras (Q1367596)

It is a standard property of characters of finite groups that they obey two types of orthogonality relations. When one moves to study algebras which are not necessarily group algebras, then it is, first of all, not clear whether the study of characters would be fruitful, and, second, which relations they would satisfy. In the case of the Brauer algebra, the characters are important, and an analogue of the ``first orthogonality relation'' is well-known. In this paper, an analogue of the ``second orthogonality relation'' for characters of the Brauer algebra is explicitly given. What this means is that the sum \(\sum\chi(x)\chi(y)\), where the sum is over all irreducible characters \(\chi\) of the Brauer algebra, is explicitly evaluated in terms of the elements \(x\) and \(y\) of the Brauer algebra. Of course, now the result is not \(0\) or \(1\), depending on whether \(x\) and \(y\) are conjugate or not, it is now more often different from zero. As a consequence of this result, and taking advantage of an idea by Stanley of bringing the theory of differential posets to the fore, the author then gives a new derivation of the combinatorial rule of how to compute the irreducible characters of the Brauer algebra.