Conjugacy class properties of the extension of \(\text{GL}(n,q)\) generated by the inverse transpose involution. (Q1881125)

Let \(G=\text{GL}(n,q)\) denote the general linear group of degree \(n\) over the finite field of order \(q\). \(G\) has an involutory automorphism \(\tau\), sending an element to the inverse of its transpose. Let \(G^+\) denote the split extension of \(G\) by an element of order 2 inducing the automorphism \(\tau\) by conjugation. The reviewer proved that each element of \(G^+\) is a product of two involutions and hence is conjugate to its inverse. He later proved that if \(q\) is odd, each absolutely irreducible representation of \(G^+\) is defined over the field of real numbers. Independent work of Howlett and Zworestine, Klyachko, and Macdonald shows that this latter property of \(G^+\) also holds when \(q\) is a power of 2. Frobenius-Schur theory then implies that, for a given element \(h\) of \(G\), \(\sum\chi(h)\) equals the number of elements \(g\) in \(G\) satisfying \(g\tau(g)=h\) (the sum extends over all complex irreducible characters \(\chi\) of \(G\)). Thus, for example, the sum of the degrees of the irreducible characters of \(G\) equals the number of symmetric matrices in \(G\). In the paper under review, the authors obtain formulae for this sum of character values on an element \(h\) of \(G\). They first treat the case of a unipotent element and then extend to an arbitrary element. Their methods involve the manipulation of Hall-Littlewood symmetric functions. An interesting by-product of their investigations is that, in the case that \(h\) is unipotent, the number of solutions of \(g\tau(g)=h\) is essentially combinatorial in nature and does not depend on whether \(q\) is even or odd. The authors also employ the theory of bilinear forms to investigate the number of solutions of \(g\tau(g)=h\) for general \(h\). -- The paper covers a wide range of topics, including asymptotic estimates of the number of solutions, and displays great facility with the theory and application of symmetric functions.