The Schur indices of the cuspidal unipotent characters of the finite unitary groups (Q1817236)

Let \({\mathbf F}_q\) be a finite field with \(q\) elements of characteristic \(p\). Let \(G\) be a connected, reductive algebraic group, defined over \({\mathbf F}_q\), of type \(({^2A}_{n-1})\), \(n\geq 2\), and let \(F:G\to G\) be the corresponding Frobenius endomorphism of \(G\). Let \(G^F\) be the group of \(F\)-fixed points of \(G\). According to \textit{G. Lusztig} [Invent. Math. 43, 125-175 (1977; Zbl 0372.20033)], \(G^F\) has a cuspidal unipotent character if and only if \(n=s(s+1)/2\) for some natural number \(s\), in which case such a character is unique. In the following, if \(\chi\) is a complex irreducible character of a finite group and \(E\) is a field of characteristic 0, then \(m_E(\chi)\) denotes the Schur index of \(\chi\) with respect to \(E\). The purpose of this paper is to prove the following Theorem: Assume that \(n=s(s+1)/2\) for some natural number \(s\). Let \(\rho\) be the unique cuspidal unipotent character of \(G^F\). Let \(r=[s(s+1)/4]\) (the integral part of \(s(s+1)/4)\). Then, if \(r\) is even, we have \(m_{\mathbf Q}(\rho)=1\), and if \(r\) is odd, we have \(m_{\mathbf R}(\rho)=m_{{\mathbf Q}_p}(\rho)=2\) and \(m_{{\mathbf Q}_l}(\rho)=1\) for any prime number \(l\neq p\).