Generalisations of conjectures of Brauer and Olsson. (Q1423842)

In this interesting paper, new general conjectures about numbers and heights of characters in blocks of finite groups are introduced. Let \(p\) be a prime, and let \(B\) be a \(p\)-block of \(G\) with defect group \(D\). For a non-negative integer \(h\), \(k_h(B)\) denotes the number of characters of height \(h\) in \(B\). The strong form of the author's conjecture states that \(\sum^n_{h=0}k_h(B)\leq\sum^n_{h=0}k_h(D)p^{2h}\) for any non-negative integer \(n\). The strong form of this conjecture implies the weak one: \(\sum^n_{h=0}k_h(B)\leq|D:D^{(n+1)}|\) for any non-negative integer \(n\). (Here \(D^{(n)}\) denotes the \(n\)-th term of the derived series of \(D\).) Both forms of the conjecture generalize conjectures by Brauer and Olsson. The weak form of the conjecture for blocks with normal defect groups follows from the recent solution of the \(k(GV)\)-problem, and the strong form of the conjecture for blocks with TI defect groups follows from recent results by \textit{J. An} and the author [Math. Z. 247, No. 3, 461-486 (2004)].