Young's symmetrizers for projective representations of the symmetric group (Q1369692)

It is a basic fact of representation theory that any irreducible representation of a finite group \(G\) over the complex field \(\mathbb{C}\) can be realized as the left ideal in the group algebra \(\mathbb{C}[G]\) generated by a certain element \(v\), such that \(v^2=v\). This realization is especially preferable since here the group \(G\) acts via left multiplication. But no direct construction of the element \(v\) is known for a general \(G\). However, if \(G\) is the symmetric group \(S_n\), there exists an explicit formula for the element \(v\) due to \textit{A. Young} [Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. 33, 97-146 (1901; JFM 32.0157.02), ibid. 34, 361-397 (1902; JFM 33.0158.03)]. As early as in 1911, \textit{I. Schur} [J. Reine Angew. Math. 139, 155-250 (1911; JFM 42.0154.02)] discovered a nontrivial central \(\mathbb{Z}_2\)-extension \(T_n\) of group \(S_n\). That is, the group \(S_n\) possesses projective representations which cannot be reduced to linear ones. The group \(T_n\) is generated by the elements \(t_1,\dots,t_{n-1}\) and the central element \(\zeta\) subject to the relations \(\zeta^2=1\) and \[ t^2_k=\zeta;\quad t_kt_{k+1}t_k=t_{k+1}t_kt_{k+1};\quad t_kt_{k'}=\zeta t_{k'}t_k,\quad k-k'>1. \] The homomorphism \(T_n\to S_n\) is defined by \(\zeta\mapsto 1\) and \(t_k\mapsto s_k\), where \(s_k\) denotes the transposition of \(k\) and \(k+1\). Recently there has been a considerable increase of interest in the projective representations of the group \(S_n\). It has turned out that many results concerning linear representations of \(S_n\) have remarkable projective counterparts. An explicit realization of the irreducible projective representations of \(S_n\) was produced by the author [J. Lond. Math. Soc., II. Ser. 42, No. 3, 437-451 (1990; Zbl 0677.20011)]. Nevertheless, the question what is the analogue of the element \(v\in\mathbb{C}[S_n]\) discovered by Young has been unanswered so far. The aim of the present paper is to answer this question.