Lifting properties of some universal orthogonal representations (Q1825960)

Let V be a finite-dimensional vector space over a field K of characteristic \(p\neq 2\) with a non-degenerate quadratic form q. We denote by O(V) the orthogonal group on V and by \(\Gamma\) (V) the subgroup of the group of units of the Clifford algebra of V generated by the anisotropic vectors of V. There exists a short exact sequence \(K^*\hookrightarrow \Gamma (V)\twoheadrightarrow O(V)\). An orthogonal representation \(\rho\) : \(G\to O(V)\) of a group G is said to lift if \(\rho\) factors through a map \(G\to \Gamma (V)\). For \(\epsilon =\pm 1\), there is a homomorphism \(N^{\epsilon}: \Gamma (V)\to K^*\) which satisfies \(N^{\epsilon}(v)=\epsilon v^ 2=\epsilon q(v)\) for every anisotropic vector \(v\in V\). Then for \(pin^{\epsilon}(V)=\ker N^{\epsilon}\), the sequence \(\{\pm 1\}\hookrightarrow pin^{\epsilon}(V)\to O(V)\) is exact except possibly at the right-most term. \(\rho\) : \(G\to O(V)\) is said to \(\epsilon\)-strongly lift if \(\rho\) factors through a map \(G\to pin^{\epsilon}(V)\). If G is finite and \(\chi\) is the character (the Brauer character if char \(K\neq 0)\) of \(\rho\), let h(\(\chi)\) denote the element in the Schur multiplier of G determined by the pullback to G of the sequence \(\{\pm 1\}\to pin^{\epsilon}(V)\to O(V)\). For the dual space \(\hat V\) of V, \(V\oplus \hat V\) and \(V\otimes \hat V\) are inner product spaces with respect to forms \(b^{\oplus}\) and \(b^{\otimes}\) satisfying \[ b^{\oplus}((v,f),(v',f'))=f(v')+f'(v)\quad and\quad b^{\otimes}(v\otimes f,v'\otimes f')=f(v')f'(v)\quad for\quad v,v'\in V,\quad f,f'\in \hat V. \] The main results of the present paper establish lifts for three naturally occurring orthogonal representations which can be stated as follows. (i) If K is also quadratically closed, let \(K^ n\) and \(K^{2n}\) denote the usual inner product spaces over K in which the form is represented by the appropriate identity matrix. If \(\sigma\in Aut(K)\) then the embedding \(O(K^ n)\to O(K^{2n})\) given by \(g\mapsto \left( \begin{matrix} g\\ 0\end{matrix} \begin{matrix} 0\\ g^{\sigma}\end{matrix} \right)\) lifts to a homomorphism \(O(K^ n)\to \Gamma (K^{2n})\). Moreover, the restriction of this embedding to the special orthogonal group \(SO(K^ n)\to O(K^{2n})\) strongly lifts. (ii) The natural embedding GL(V)\(\to O(V\oplus \hat V)\) lifts to a homomorphism GL(V)\(\to \Gamma (V\oplus \hat V)\). (iii) The natural map GL(V)\(\to O(V\otimes \hat V)\) lifts to a homomorphism GL(V)\(\to \Gamma (V\otimes \hat V)\). Moreover, if dim V is odd, the given map factors through a map \(PGL(V)\to pin^{\epsilon}(V)\) for both \(\epsilon =1\) and -1 so that the given orthogonal representation strongly lifts. By making use of the above results, the author establishes the following result for the triviality of h(\(\chi)\). (iv) Let \(\sigma\) be any field automorphism with the property that \(\sigma\) is a p-power map on \(p'\)- roots of 1 if \(\chi\) is a Brauer character. Then \(h(\chi +\chi^{\sigma})=1\) and \(h(\chi)=h(\chi^{\sigma})\) whenever \(\chi\) is an ordinary or Brauer character of an orthogonal representation of a finite group G. For arbitrary character \(\chi\), we have \(h(\chi +{\bar \chi})=1\) and h(\(\chi\) \({\bar \chi}\))\(=1\). Moreover, the last relation also holds in G/ker(\(\chi\) \({\bar \chi}\)) if \(\chi\) (1) is odd.