Decomposition numbers and global properties (Q2153324)

If \(G\) is a finite group, \(p\) is a prime, \(\mathrm{IBr}(G)\) is a set of irreducible \(p\)-Brauer characters of \(G\) and \(\chi \in \mathrm{Irr}(G)\) is an irreducible complex character of \(G\), then the restriction \(\chi^{\circ}\) of \(\chi\) to the \(p\)-regular elements of \(G\) uniquely decomposes as \[ \chi^{\circ}=\sum_{\varphi \in \mathrm{IBr}(G)}d_{\chi, \varphi} \varphi, \] for uniquely determined non-negative integers \(d_{\chi, \varphi}\) called the decomposition numbers. The paper under review is dedicated (among other things) to discussing the Conjecture (A.a): If \(B\) is the principal block of \(G\), we have that \(d_{\chi, 1} \not =0\) for all \(\chi \in \mathrm{Irr}(B)\) if and only if \(G\) has a normal \(p\)-complement. First, the authors prove that Conjecture (A.a) is true if and only if it is true for simple groups (Theorem 2.1). Furthermore Conjecture (A.a) holds for any alternating group \(S = \mathsf{A}_{n}\) with \(n \geq 5\) and any prime \(p >2\) (Proposition 3.1) and for \(p > 3\) and \(S\) any of the 26 sporadic simple groups or the Tits group \(^{2}F_{4}(2)'\) (Proposition 3.2). One of the main results of this paper is Theorem 3.6: Conjecture (A.a) holds for any finite non-abelian simple group \(S\), unless possibly \(S\) is a simple group of Lie type in characteristic \(p\). Furthermore, Conjecture (A.a) holds for any finite group \(G\) (and the prime \(p\)), as long as no composition factor of \(G\) is a simple group of Lie type in characteristic \(p\).