An alternating sum for Hochschild cohomology of a block (Q1614635)

Let \(G\) be a finite group and \(F\) an algebraically closed field of characteristic \(p>0\). Denote by \({\mathcal S}_p(G)\) the set of strictly increasing chains of nontrivial \(p\)-subgroups of \(G\), and if \(\sigma\in{\mathcal S}_p(G)\), denote by \(|\sigma|\) the number of nontrivial subgroups in \(\sigma\), and by \(G_\sigma\) the intersection of the normalizers of subgroups appearing in \(\sigma\). Let \(B\) be a block of \(FG\) and let \(\widehat{HH}^*(B)\) be the Tate version of the Hochschild cohomology of \(B\). The sum of blocks \(B_\sigma\) is the sum of the Brauer correspondents of \(B\) for \(G_\sigma\). The main result of the papers states that for each integer \(i\) \[ \sum_{\sigma\in{\mathcal S}_p(G)/G}(-1)^{|\sigma|}\dim_F(\widehat{HH}^i(B_\sigma))=0. \] This is then applied to the situation when the fusion of \(B\)-subpairs is controlled by the normalizer of a maximal subpair and the outer automorphisms of the defect group induced by the inertial quotient act without nontrivial fixed points, and a generalization of an earlier result of R.~Kessar and M.~Linckelmann is obtained.