Higher width moonshine (Q2281328)

This paper establishes a `higher width' version of weak moonshine which distinguishes between non-isomorphic groups. For a finite group \(G\), weak moonshine asserts there is an infinite-dimensional graded \(G\)-module \[ V_G = \bigoplus_{n\in \{-d\}\cup \mathbb{Z}^+} V_G(n) \] for \(d>0\) sufficiently large, such that the McKay-Thompson series \[ T_g(\tau) = \sum_{n\gg -\infty} \operatorname{Tr} \left(g\vert V_G(n)\right)q^n =\sum_{n \gg -\infty} \sum_{1\leq i \leq t} m_i(n)\chi_i (g)q^n \] (\(g\in G, q=e^{2\pi i \tau}, \tau \in \operatorname{H}\)) are modular functions. Here, for \(1\leq i \leq t\) let \(m_i(n)\) denote the multiplicity of the irreducible representation \(\rho_i\) of \(G\) in \(V_G(n)\) and \(\chi_i\) be the corresponding irreducible character. It is proved in [\textit{S.\ DeHority} et al., Res.\ Math.\ Sci.\ 5, No.\ 1, Paper No.\ 14, 34 p.\ (2018; Zbl 1440.11059)] that weak moonshine holds for every finite group, however in this setting non-isomorphic groups might produce the same weak moonshine data. To develop a higher width generalization that differentiates between non-isomorphic groups, the authors replace \(\chi_i(g)\) for \(g\in G\) with Frobenius \(r\)-characters \(\chi_i^{(r)}(\underline{g})\) defined for \(\underline{g} \in G^{(r)} = G\times G\times \cdots \times G\) (\(r\)-copies). Then a group \(G\) is said to have \textit{width \(s\) weak moonshine} for \(s\in \mathbb{Z}^+\) if the width \(r\) McKay-Thompson series \[ T(r,\underline{g},\tau ) =\sum_{n \gg -\infty} \sum_{1\leq i \leq t} m_i(n)\chi_i^{(r)} (\underline{g})q^n \] is a weakly holomorphic modular function for each \(1\leq r\leq s\) and \(\underline{g} \in G^{(r)}\). In this way, higher width weak moonshine theory incorporates the original weak moonshine theory. However, the presence of the Frobenius \(r\)-characters means the higher width theory can distinguish between non-isomorphic groups. Theorem 1.1, which is the main result of the paper, establishes that for any \(s\in \mathbb{Z}^+\) a finite group has width \(s\) weak moonshine, and that it is asymptotically regular. To establish this result, the authors also develop general results pertaining to the orthogonality of the Frobenius \(r\)-characters. As pointed out in the paper, these results are of interest in character theory and complete work began by Frobenius, Hoehnke, and Johnson. To illustrate the usefulness of their results, examples are provided of non-isomorphic groups sharing the same weak moonshine but emitting different higher width moonshines.